Christmas Wreath Vegetable Soup

by vanweb in Cooking > Soups & Stews

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Christmas Wreath Vegetable Soup

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This perfect Christmas soup add a festive flair to your meal and is easy & cheap to make and can even be made a day or two ahead of time and just reheated for your dinner. The red soup is roasted beet & the green soup is broccoli.

For some fun you could do alternating bowls for each guest one with a red base and green wreath the next the opposite: green soup with a red wreath.

This dish can be easily made vegetarian by switching the chicken stock for vegetable stock.

Ingredients

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Broccoli Soup

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh cut-up broccoli
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 medium russet potato, peeled and diced
1/2 small cooking onion, peeled and diced
1/2 tablespoon butter
salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste

Roasted Beet Soup

Ingredients:
1 tablespoons butter
3 medium beets
3/4 cups chopped onions
1 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
2 cups chicken stock

Broccoli Soup

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Melt the butter in a stockpot or large soup pot over medium heat.
Add onions and lower heat to medium-low.
Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the onions and sweat, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened.
Lower the heat if necessary to avoid browning the onions. This should take about 5 minutes.

Add the broccoli, chicken stock and potato to the soup pot and raise the heat to medium-high.
Bring the soup to a simmer. Partially cover the pot and simmer for 25 minutes, or until all the vegetables are soft.

Remove the pot from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
Puree the soup, in batches, use an immersion (stick) blender in the pot to your desired consistency.
Add the salt and pepper to taste.

Roasted Beet Soup

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Roast beets whole with skin on in a 375 degree oven for 1 hour or until tender.
Remove from oven and let cool to touch.
Cut off the ends and remove the skin.
It should come off quite easily.
Chop into ½ inch cubes to measure 3 cups.

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat.
Add onions, ginger, and lemon peel.
Saute for about 2-3 minutes, then add the broth and beets; bring to a boil and let cook together for 15 minutes.

Remove from heat; let stand 20 minutes.
Puree soup in blender in batches until smooth.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.

The Presentation

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Carefully spoon the red beet soup into a wide bowl.
Spoon some of the green broccoli into a sandwich bag.
Cut the corner off the bag and squeeze the broccoli soup in a circle in the center of the bowl.
With a bamboo skewer (or other thin tool) swirl the broccoli soup into a wreath pattern.

Serve!

For some fun you could do alternating bowls for each guest one with a red base and green wreath the next the opposite: green soup with a red wreath.