In the 1980s, puréed beets, snipped chives, and swirls of sour cream made a startling chilled soup that became an almost permanent fixture at the café in which I cooked for much of the decade. The most outrageous Schiaparelli pink, it was a picture in its deep white-porcelain tureen. I wish now I had had the nerve to include the finely chopped gherkins whose sweet-sour pickle notes could have lifted the soup from its candy-cane sweetness. One glance at a Russian or Swedish cookbook would have been enough.

　　

Ingredients

enough for 4

　　raw beets – 1 pound (500g)

　　peanut or vegetable oil – 2 tablespoons

　　green onions – 4 to 6

　　vegetable or light chicken stock – 3 cups (750ml)

　　

For the Goat Cheese Cream

softish goat cheese – 3 1/2 ounces (100g)

　　thick yogurt – 3 tablespoons

　　mixed chopped chives and mint – 2 tablespoons

　　

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Cut the leaves from the beets (cook them later, treating them as you might spinach) and scrub the beets well. Put them in a roasting pan with a tablespoon of oil and three of water and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Roast for forty-five minutes to an hour, until dark and almost tender.

　　

Step 2

Warm the second tablespoon of oil in a shallow pan. Chop the green onions and let them soften for five minutes or so in the oil. Set aside.

　　

Step 3

Peel the beets and chop the flesh coarsely. Put them in the pan with the onions, pour over the stock, and bring to a boil. Simmer for seven or eight minutes, cool slightly, then purée in a blender until smooth. Check the seasoning. It will need salt and black pepper. Pour into a pitcher and chill in the refrigerator.

　　

Step 4

To make the cream, remove the skin from the goat cheese and mash the flesh with a fork. Stir in the yogurt and chopped herbs. Serve the soup when it is thoroughly chilled, adding spoonfuls of the herb cream at the table.

　　Tender