Beautiful Soup (Vegetable Soup With Beets, Dill and Orange Zest) Recipe (2024)

By Celia Barbour

Beautiful Soup (Vegetable Soup With Beets, Dill and Orange Zest) Recipe (1)

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Rating: 5(590)
Notes: Read community notes

This is a sweet and buttery tomato-onion soup that evolved, many years ago, toward a kind of borscht, but stopped short. Borscht tastes too earthy for my palate. Tomatoes and orange keep the flavor a bit brighter and more acidic. The name comes from the colors: orange carrots, carnelian tomatoes, magenta beets. I serve it at home, at least twice each winter, with snow-white dollops of sour cream floating on top. It looks wonderful, tastes good, and is very healthful. And without my needing to say a word about mincing or dicing, it teaches my children about the satisfaction of a job well done.

Featured in: BRINGING IT HOME; To Cook for Children, First Master the Knife

Learn: How to Make Soup

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Ingredients

Yield:6 servings

6tablespoons butter or 3 tablespoons butter and 3 tablespoons olive oil
3medium onions, chopped into ½-inch pieces
4cloves garlic, minced
2small beets, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
4 to 5medium carrots, cut into ½- inch dice
4stalks celery, cut into ½-inch pieces
½medium celery root, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
¾cup chopped dill
2quarts beef or chicken stock
128-ounce can diced tomatoes with their juice
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sour cream, for garnish
Dark whole wheat sour bread or other hearty bread, for serving

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

375 calories; 23 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 34 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams dietary fiber; 17 grams sugars; 12 grams protein; 1537 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Preparation

Step
1
Place flameproof casserole or other deep, wide pan over low heat and add butter or butter-oil mixture. When butter has melted, add onion and garlic; sauté until soft but not browned.
Step
2
Increase heat to medium-high and add beets, carrots, celery, celery root and half the dill. Sauté, adjusting heat as needed, until vegetables have released their liquid, dried and start to turn golden but not brown, about 20 minutes.
Step
3
Add stock and tomatoes with their juice, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook until vegetables are soft, about 45 minutes. Add orange zest and juice, and remaining dill. Season with salt and pepper to taste. To serve, ladle into bowls and top each with a dollop of sour cream. Serve with hunks of bread.

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out of 5

590

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Cooking Notes

Danielle Ivory6 years ago

I wanted to make this recipe vegetarian. So, instead of beef or chicken stock, I subbed in about two cups of water, a half cup of dry riesling, a half cup of grated parmesan, juice and zest from a lemon, a handful of fennel seeds and about a tablespoon each of soy sauce and tomato paste. The consistency was stewy, rather than soupy, but delicious.