Cold beetroot soup

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Summer! Heat! I absolutely do not want to stand by the stove ... but I want to eat something! Even on days of exhausting heat, similar to an endless siesta, you need to cook and have something to eat. And it is desirable that this “something” was cool, fresh and light, cooked quickly, and was eaten with pleasure.

Such are the cold soups - nutritious, wholesome and delicious. We have already tried the Bulgarian tarator, and now I propose to cook a delicious, refreshing and bright summer beetroot. A great option when you are reluctant to stand by the stove over a boiling pot with borsch. It’s great to cook real, hot borsch in the winter, when you want something warming, rich. A beetroot can be called a summer, "lite" version of borsch. Such a “borsch-light” without cabbage and roasting. In Ukraine it is called "cold borsch", and in Belarus it is called a chill; Another of the dish's names is beetroot okroshka.

Ingredients for Cooking Beetroot

For 2 servings:

2-3 small beets;
2-3 medium potatoes;
1-2 fresh cucumbers;
2 chicken or 6 quail eggs;
A few feathers of green onions and dill branches;
A small bunch of beet tops;
At will - boiled meat.

For refueling:

500 ml of water;
Salt, ground black pepper, sugar, horseradish, vinegar, vegetable oil - to your taste.
Approximately 1/3 tsp salt, a pinch of pepper, 0.5 tbsp. sugar, 0.5 tsp horseradish, 2/3 tablespoons vinegar and oil.

Try dressing during the cooking process to find the ratio of ingredients that suits your taste.

There are recipes in which beetroot is seasoned not with water, mineral or simply boiled, but with beet kvass or kefir. You can also try such dish options to choose your favorite cold soup recipe.

The method of cooking beetroot

To make your beetroot bright, colorful, choose a saturated beet. To find out if it fits, scratch the skin with your fingernail. You can take the vegetables of the old crop, but better - young, summer.

Boil potatoes and beets in their skins or bake in foil until soft. The first option is faster, the second is more useful, since when baking, the usefulness does not go into the water, but remains in vegetables. But in the summer heat I don’t really want to turn on the oven for 40 minutes (as much potato is baked), and even more so for an hour and a half (for beets). Therefore, I cooked from boiled vegetables.

Cook potatoes for 20-30 minutes, taking into account its size; beets longer - 40-50 minutes. We check for readiness by piercing the root crop with a wooden skewer or the tip of a knife. If the vegetables are soft, drain the hot water and fill it with cold: it will be easier to clean them.

In some recipes, it is advised to boil the beets in a peeled and chopped form. I do not recommend doing so so that the beets during cooking do not lose their beautiful color. In addition, when boiling in the peel, more nutrients are stored.

Boil hard-boiled eggs and fill with cold water to make the shell easier to peel.

Having cooled boiled vegetables and eggs, we clear them of peel and shell. My cucumbers, if the skin is hard or purchased cucumbers - it is better to clean; if at home - it is not necessary to clean the skin. We keep the greens for five minutes in cold water to soak off particles of dirt from the beds, and rinse under the tap.

The ingredients for beetroot can be grated on a coarse grater, or can be cut into strips. It is easier to grate, but the straws are more interesting in texture and look prettier, since the larger pieces in the finished dish do not mix into porridge. However, I still rubbed part of the beets so that the color of the dressing turned out to be more intense, and cut the rest for beauty into strips.

Grated or chopped beets, pour cool boiled water and leave for 20 minutes, so that the dressing is infused and acquires a beautiful ruby color. Meanwhile, we are preparing the remaining ingredients for the beetroot.

Cut the potatoes and cucumbers into strips of the same size, and the eggs into halves.

Arrange sliced vegetables on plates.

If you want not a vegetarian, but a more satisfying version of beetroot, you can add a few pieces of boiled meat or sausage.

And here is the gas station insisted! It's time to add spices. But first, strain it through a colander so that during mixing the tender boiled beets do not turn into mashed potatoes.

Add a little olive or sunflower oil (unrefined tastier and more aromatic) to the dressing, salt and pepper to taste, a little horseradish, the acid is regulated with vinegar, and the sweetness with sugar. Vinegar tastes better than ordinary table, but wine, apple or balsamic.

Mix the dressing well and fill it with vegetables in a plate.

Finely chop the dill and green onions. We washed, clean and slightly dried leaves of beet tops with thin strips. The stems and central veins from the leaves in the soup do not need to be added, since they are stiff, but the tender leaves of young beets will add color to the dish ... and good!

It turns out that there are more vitamins and minerals in beet tops than in the root crop itself. It's just that there is a lot of sugar in beets, that's why it is sweet, tasty, and the tops are slightly bitter - therefore, it is not so often used for food. But you can add elegant green leaves with raspberry veins not only in the first dishes, but also in salads; make from tops, as from sorrel, a filling for pies and even harvest for the winter.

Beet tops are good for the heart and blood vessels, for digestion and metabolism. Dishes with it will help to maintain youthfulness, excellent attention and a strong memory. And if you do not like the peculiar taste of tops, pour boiling water over it: the bitterness will disappear and the leaves will become softer.