 |
| Beautiful Beets! |
I would never under normal circumstances use such predictable words together like “Wicked Wednesday” (unless I was unapologetically enthusiastic about something very specific... and I am!), but this week it just fits, because in a few short days it’s one of my favourite holidays: Halloween. Costumes, silliness, candy, haunted houses... and in my childhood it also meant the world smelling of wet leaves - Of hummus and forest - the air would smell frosty and catch in your nostrils. While completely enchanting and magical, this weather (and temperature) change meant that we could never go trick or treating without an honest-to-God winter coat beneath or on top of our costume (if you were lucky it was somehow incorporated in your ghoulish, scary character). It also meant that my dear, imaginative, wonderful mother would feed us very special soup before we would run off: vampire soup. First off, it was deep, jewel mauve-red (thanks to beets), and loaded with garlic “to keep the vampires away” (I think it was more to keep the colds away that run rampant at that time of year, but that doesn’t sound as exiting). The soup, simple and absolutely delicious, is prepared as follows:
Vampire Soup
2 lbs of beets, cleaned and scrubbed
2-4 cloves of garlic, depending on strength and size
2 cups of buttermilk (or enough to make the soup liquid but not overly runny)
Salt, pepper, to taste
Boil your beets in water until they become tender (this depends on the size of the beet, but I would say anything between 20-50 minutes). Take off the heat and let cool slightly, or until you can handle the beets (recommended kitchen gloves unless you want stained hands). Once cooled sufficiently, but not cold, they should still be warm, peel and cut up in quarters. Plop in the blender. Add garlic (best to grate it in, to prevent huge-lump-of-garlic phenomenon), a dash of pepper and buttermilk to the beets. DO NOT SALT! Salting a soup before its blended is never a good idea, because the strength changes, and if you don’t want to have to eat a bowl of Dead Sea, hold your horses and add last. Blend very well. Here is your vibrant, delicious liquid! Ok, you can salt it now (you have my permission)... and serve in a white bowl with a little bread and butter on the side, just like my mother used to. Soup is served room-temperature, but is also great chilled later.
Note: if your beets are not the freshest, add a little sugar to the soup (between 1 tsp and a tbsp should do). The interesting thing with this soup has always been for me the strong, pungent garlic, contrasted with sweet, delicate beets, and vibrant colour.
All the little witches must eat their soup before going to collect their sugar treasures!
