Bietensoep (Beetroot Soup)
Bietensoep
A deep-crimson Dutch beetroot soup: earthy roasted beets simmered with apple and stock, finished with a swirl of soured cream and a shower of dill.
IVSoups- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 50 min
- Serves
- 4
- Level
- Beginner
Beetroot is a vegetable of the northern clay. Groningen, the flat and fertile province of the far north-east, has grown and eaten it for generations, both as the familiar sweet-sour bietjes and in soups like this one. Deep crimson, faintly sweet, and grounded in the earthy taste that beets never quite lose, bietensoep is a soup that looks as striking as it tastes.
A soup of the clay north
The northern provinces sit within the broad culinary orbit of the North Sea and the Baltic, where beetroot, dill and soured cream are old companions, and it is no surprise that a beetroot soup feels at home here. This is not borscht. There is no cabbage, no meat, none of that eastern depth. It is a plainer, purer thing: beets and a little apple cooked soft and blended smooth, dressed with the cool tang of soured cream.
Beetroot tastes of the ground it grew in. A little apple and a swirl of cream are what lift it into the light.
Keeping the colour
The visual drama of this soup is worth protecting, and there is one small trick to it. Beetroot's brilliant red pigments are sensitive, and long cooking can dull them toward a muddy brown. A splash of vinegar or lemon added early stabilises the colour, keeping the soup vivid, while also giving the sweet-earthy beets the sharp counterpoint they need.
Balance it carefully: salt, a pinch of sugar, enough acid to keep it lively. Finish with soured cream and dill. Serve it steaming in autumn or ice-cold in summer. It is generous either way.
“A splash of vinegar early keeps the beetroot's colour a vivid crimson instead of letting it fade to brown.”
Ingredients
Serves 4
The soup
- 700 graw beetroot, peeled, diced
- 30 gbutter
- 1onion, chopped
- 1apple, tart, peeled and diced
- 1waxy potato, diced, for body
- 1 litrevegetable or beef stock, hot
- 1 tbspcider or wine vinegar, to fix the colour
- 1bay leaf
To finish
- 100 mlsoured cream or crème fraîche
- 2 tbspdill, chopped
- to tastesalt, pepper and a pinch of sugar
Method
- 1
Sweat the aromatics
Melt the butter and soften the onion gently until translucent. Wear gloves to peel and dice the beetroot (it stains hands and boards fiercely) and add it with the apple and potato, stirring to coat in the butter.
- 2
Add stock and vinegar
Pour in the hot stock, add the bay leaf, and stir in the vinegar. A little acid early does more than season: it helps fix the beetroot's brilliant crimson, which otherwise dulls toward brown as it cooks.
- 3
Simmer until soft
Simmer gently for about 35 minutes, until the beetroot is completely tender to the point of a knife. The apple melts away and rounds the earthiness with a faint sweetness that keeps the soup from tasting purely of soil.
- 4
Blend smooth
Remove the bay leaf and blend the soup until silky and uniform. Loosen with a little extra stock if it is thicker than you like, then taste and balance with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar against the vinegar.
- 5
Finish and serve
Ladle into bowls and swirl a spoon of soured cream through each. The cool white against the crimson is half the pleasure. Shower with dill and serve warm, or chill it and serve cold in high summer.
With the soup
A bowl of snert is a meal — but the trimmings make it Dutch.
- Roggebrood met spek, rye bread with a slab of bacon
- Katenspek, smoked cured bacon on the side
- Mustard, a dab of coarse mustard on the rye
Questions from the kitchen
Is this the same as Eastern European borscht?+
It shares beetroot, soured cream and dill with borscht, and the northern Dutch clay provinces have long grown and eaten beets. But this is a simpler pureed soup, without the meat, cabbage and depth of a full borscht.
Can I serve it cold?+
Yes. Beetroot soup is excellent chilled in summer. Blend it very smooth, chill thoroughly, and check the seasoning cold, as chilling mutes salt and sweetness. Finish with cold soured cream and dill.
How do I avoid staining everything pink?+
Wear kitchen gloves, work on a board you do not mind staining, and rinse splashes at once. Roasting the beets whole in their skins first, then slipping them off, keeps the mess down too.
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