Silky Beetroot Soup Inspired by Valentine Warner

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One of my favorite tv chefs (and there are a few) is the mildly eccentric Valentine Warner. He's such a naughty schoolboy.  I imagine him, slingshot peeping out of a trouser pocket filled with sticks and stones, digging up truffles in an orchard on his way home from school...although he was probably a boarder.  His second birthday cake was  “an iced sponge beehive, swarming with sugar bees.” (and he went to art school, ha) 

I made this soup after watching him make something similar...

Silky Beetroot Soup

 Ingredients;

• 2 large beetroots
• 2 small potatoes
• 1 leek
• 500ml Vegetable stock 
• Sea salt, crushed  black pepper and a little ground cumin and coriander and a couple of bay leaves
• A little olive oil 
• A small can of coconut milk

Method:

1. Remove the outer leaves of the leek. Wash well in cold water and then slice up.  Place in a saucepan and sauté in a little olive oil.
2. Meanwhile wash, peel and cut up the beetroot and potatoes into small chunks. 
3. Add the spices, not too much but enough to add to the flavour without overpowering the whole dish.  Cook them out for a couple of minutes.
4. Add the beetroot and potatoes. Pour over the hot vegetable stock and throw in the bay leaves.  Give everything a really good stir. Bring to the boil and then leave to simmer until the root vegetables are tender.
5. Once tender, leave to cool for a few minutes before blending.  Remembering to remove the bay leaves first.
6. Add the coconut milk a little at a time until you have a smooth creamy soup.  Check the seasoning and adjust as necessary.

This is the best beetroot soup I've tasted....like liquid velvet.   The coconut milk really works well to make a very smooth unctuous soup that's full of flavour...yummy... oh and he champions one of our local pumpkin growers too...

  

To pinch his quote 'Love and elderflowers' debx