This dish exemplifies the colors of fall. Hints of yellow, red, orange always something that lightens the thought of winter coming. It's not that I don't like the winter, those quiet nights with fresh snow falling and the drone of the city in the back ground, the crunch of the snow beneath your feet, cuddling times to keep warm, it's just having to shovel the snow, get all bundled up to go out, start the vehicles to get them ready for the daily treks. I guess as you get older your body craves the more leisure and warmth of the beach life. Well with that all that being said here is something that will warm your heart and soul.
Soup always signifies to me, comfort, and warmth on those cool days, loads of flavor and so many variations that can be created. I love that smell of broth cooking, windows steaming up, and finally wrapping my hands around a bowl of good home cooked soup, it fills me with this feeling of being taken care of and being loved, which takes me to what Nicoletta and I have created for this beautiful meal.
We decided to go to the downtown City Market, and change things up a bit from our usual Saturday morning outing. The City Market is located at City Hall downtown Edmonton, a beautifully architect-ed building, pyramidal shaped. Sun piercing through the many glass walls. On the main floor and just during fall and winter seasons City Hall hosts a farmers market, beautiful produce growers, music echoing in this marbleized structure, sweets galore, and specialty shops in abundance. If you are ever traveling to Edmonton, try and experience this market, and you will get a chance to experience our local foods and see some of the great sites of our downtown. It was here that we found a nice acorn squash and some golden hued beets among other items for the week. Inspired by the color, texture and taste of these beauties, we decided that a nice creamy soup would be the end to the organically grown wonders.
From Nicoletta's and my kitchen to yours we give you Golden Beet and Acorn Squash Soup.
This was a joint venture, Nicoletta prepared the beets and squash roasted in a marinade of extra virgin olive oil and herbs bringing them a sweet yet earthy caramelized goodness, and I blended it with a simple partial mirepoix, broth, some sour cream, and loving attention pureed together to a smooth creamy consistency which is like silk both in visual and the feeling of this soup on your tongue. Our meals are usually a joint venture which makes it even better shared responsibilities, and loads of fun in our small but quaint kitchen. The sweetness of the squash together with the slight earthiness of the beets as the golden beet is not as strong in flavor as the traditional red beet, perfect pairing for this soup. The veggie broth in the back ground with a bit of heat from some sriracha and to give it the richness it deserves some sour cream, bringing all those flavors together in a harmonic resonance.
Of course being the artist that Nicoletta is she finished the soup with a flare of shaved almonds and pomegranate, and drops of avocado oil, beautifully placed which I thought was fueled by the passion and love that Nicoletta has for Japanese art. I am going to call her piece blossoming almond.
This dish is both luxurious and simple at the same time, a dichotomy of class. Beautiful to look at and even more pleasant to slowly savor spoon after spoon, taste after taste relishing each moment. Enjoy this soup as much as Nicoletta and I did making it.
Enjoy.
Today's song: Prince "Diamonds and Pearls".
Print
Golden Beet and Acorn Squash Soup
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 small acorn squash
- 1 bundle od golden beets
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon of fresh parsley chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ onion chopped
- 2 small carrots chopped
- 150 ml of sour cream
- 1 teaspoon sriracha sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 cups of vegetable broth
- 2 cloves of garlic whole
- 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
- 2 tablespoons of pomegranite
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Wash and peel beets. Cut into quarters.
- Cut squash and clean out seeds and pulp.
- Take beets and place in dish lined with parchment.
- Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, toss in ½ of the chopped parsley, oregano, thyme.
- Place in whole garlic and dust with salt and pepper, toss well and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Take squash and drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil coating the inside well sprinkle in remaining herbs and garlic whole. Place face down on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Place beets and squash in a pre-heated 375° F oven and bake till vegetables are fork tender, and caramelized.
- Take out of oven.
- Scoop out insides of squash and combine with beets in a bowl.
- In a medium pot drizzle in remaining 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil.
- Toss in carrots and onions, and chili flakes and saute till tender.
- Mix in beets and squash add some salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour in vegetable broth and bay leaf.
- Simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes.
- Drop in sour cream and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Take out bay leaf.
- Add sriracha
- With a hand blender puree till smooth and silky.
- Place soup in bowl, garnish with some almond slices, pomegranate and a few drops of the avocado oil.
- Serve.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 servings
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When I am not cooking, I enjoy playing musical instruments, singing, writing. I have learned over the years to live in gratitude and enjoy the moment.
Adriana says
This sounds so good, love your pictures.:)
I am glad you loved the pictures, Its so nice to receive positive feed back, Nicoletta works so hard at creating them. The soup was so good so tasty and a bit spicy but the surprise was the pomegranate and almonds added such a texture to each bite and the flavor of the pomegranate so accompanied the flavor of the soup giving it a sweet spicy feel. Have a great day.
Happy cooking!
Diane G says
Who doesn't love squash soup - and the idea of combining it with beets is terrific! I could eat beets every day, but am not keen on the mess and stain, but yellow beets are not so bad. As fresh pomegranate becomes available, I always have some in my fridge ready to sprinkle - on soup just increases the options! thx!
Hi Dianne
Another beet lover that's great, there seems not to be a lot of people that like beets, but I try my best to create dished with them to maybe add a few more people to the fan club. Yes the red beets are tremendous for staining but I find the gold and even the red marbleized beets have much less of that staining quality and are less take your breath away earthy. It was so nice to hear from you. Have a great day.
Cheer!
Jon says
Hey, I never would have thought to pair beets and acorn squash, this is awesome! Thanks for the inspiration, next time I get some golden beets I'll try it.
Hi Jon
You are very welcome inspiration to us is like gold, precious, awesome giving it. and wonderful receiving it. Let us know how you make out we would love to hear from you.
Take care and Happy soup making!
Taylor @ The Girls on Bloor says
I've been seeing yellow beets at so many grocery stores but couldn't find an excuse to buy them. I've been making squash soups lately so you've given me the perfect recipe idea to finally try these beets!
Hi Taylor definitely give them a try, they are so good but I guess beets are an acquired taste. My wife Nicoletta wasn't a fan of beets but slowly she is starting to like them. Lets us know how you made out with the beets, we are curios to see how you like them. Thank you so much for your comment!
See Ya!
Angela @thechewylife says
It's great that you are supporting local, organic growers! The pomegranate garnishing is fabulous as well, what a nice contrast!
Thank you that was my wife Nicoletta that decided to use the pomegranate she is truly talented. It added a great flavor to the soup very interesting and delicious. We think it is important to eat well using great ingredients, and have noticed how much more tasteful food is when it is grown organically, and supporting local organic producers insures us freshness and helps our areas economically. Thanks again for your comments we really do love to hear ideas and thoughts from all of you.
Happy blogging!
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
Yum! What a great idea to put beets and squash together 🙂 It's very pretty too!
Hello
Thank you for your comment we really appreciate it. The soup was amazing and the flavor of the beets combined with the squash was amazing very complimentary to each other. I think when we have intuitive ideas on creating dishes we should try them because you never know, you could make something truly wonderful.Have a great day/
Happy cooking!
www.chiangraifarm.com says
Lovely site! I am loving it!! Will come back again. I am bookmarking your feeds
also
Thank you for your kind words. Have a awesome day!
Loreto