Roasted Beet Soup with Whipped Goat Cheese, Toasted Hazelnuts, and Dill
A jewel-toned, velvety soup of roasted beets, sweet onion, and a touch of apple cider vinegar, crowned with a cloud of whipped goat cheese, crunchy toasted hazelnuts, and fresh dill. It's lovely served warm on a cold day or chilled on a warm one.
Yield: Serves 4 · Active: 25 min · Total: 1 hr 30 min · Best in North America from fall through spring, when beets are sweetest · Best eaten: midday or early evening
Ingredients
Soup
2 lb beets (about 4–5 medium), scrubbed
2 tbsp grass-fed butter or extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 small apple, peeled and chopped (optional, for gentle sweetness)
4 cups chicken bone broth or vegetable broth
1 tsp Baja Gold sea salt, plus more to taste
1–2 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
Whipped goat cheese
4 oz soft goat cheese, at room temperature
2–3 tbsp thick sheep's or goat's milk yogurt
Pinch of Baja Gold sea salt
Zest of ½ lemon
To finish: ⅓ cup toasted and chopped hazelnuts, fresh dill fronds, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and flaky salt
Method
Roast the beets. Wrap them individually in parchment and roast at 400°F for 45–60 minutes, until a knife slides in easily. Let them cool, then rub off the skins with a towel and chop.
Build the soup. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Cook the onion 6–8 minutes until soft, then add the garlic and apple for 2 minutes. Add the roasted beets, broth, and salt and simmer 10 minutes.
Blend until completely smooth and velvety (work in batches and vent the lid). Stir in the vinegar and dill, then taste and adjust the salt and acidity. Thin with broth if needed.
Whip the goat cheese. Whip the goat cheese, yogurt, salt, and lemon zest until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
Toast the hazelnuts in a dry skillet over medium heat 3–5 minutes, rub off the skins in a towel, and chop.
Serve warm, or chill at least 4 hours to serve cold. Ladle into bowls and top with a spoonful of whipped goat cheese, toasted hazelnuts, dill fronds, a drizzle of olive oil, and flaky salt.
Storage: Soup, refrigerated up to 5 days or frozen up to 3 months; whipped goat cheese, up to 5 days; toasted hazelnuts, up to 2 weeks in a jar.
Nourishment Notes
Beets — dietary nitrates that support healthy blood flow, plus betalains (the pigments behind their brilliant color), folate, potassium, and manganese.
Goat cheese and yogurt — calcium, protein, and mostly A2-type casein; the topping is never heated, so the yogurt's live cultures stay intact.
Hazelnuts — vitamin E, manganese, and oleic acid.
Dill — carvone and vitamin C.
Raw apple cider vinegar — acetic acid for blood-sugar balance.
Bone broth — gelatin, glycine, and minerals.
For your cycle: Beets' folate and nitrates make this soup especially supportive during the menstrual phase, and hazelnuts' vitamin E is welcome in the luteal phase.
Sourcing
Beets — organic, from a farmers' market, with firm roots and fresh greens if attached (sauté the greens like chard)
Goat cheese — a soft farmstead goat cheese from a local dairy, organic when you can find it, or a French raw-milk AOP chèvre such as Sainte-Maure de Touraine
Sheep's or goat's milk yogurt — organic, plain, and full-fat; raw from a local dairy, or Bellwether Farms
Hazelnuts — organic Oregon hazelnuts, or Nocciola Piemonte IGP from Italy
Onion, garlic, apple, dill, and lemon — organic
Broth — homemade from pasture-raised chicken or organic vegetables, or Bonafide Provisions (organic, sold frozen)
Raw apple cider vinegar — organic, with the mother (Bragg)
Grass-fed butter — organic, cultured butter from 100% grass-fed cows
Extra virgin olive oil — organic, single-estate, harvest-dated, in dark glass
Salt — Baja Gold sea salt; Maldon or fleur de sel de Guérande for finishing
— Anna aka Food Marshall