Oh happy day when you can make an incredibly delicious soup that lasts for days and looks like heaven…and its insanely healthy, too!  Today I cooked with Chloe  (who is an incredible private chef and event producer) and she made her fabulous roasted tomato and beet soup that takes about 25 minutes (mostly waiting for things to boil) and has only 4 main ingredients!

Chloe is a chef with enormously addictive, simple and somewhat legendary fare.  From her maniacally addictive roasted nuts (I will blog them soon!) to simple braised fennel and scrambled eggs (yep, that was Christmas breakfast) she never fails to add an element of surprise and charm to ever meal.  As she cooked and I snapped photos, she served me an enormous yellow pot filled with tea and I remembered just how special the small things really are in life.  Cooking with Chloe totally rocks!

The best way to make this soup is after a trip to the farmer’s market.  That’s how we did it, early in the moring. Two baskets of cherry tomatoes, two bunches of beats and some garlic are all you need.  Also, if you make your own veggie or chicken broth I admire you and you should have about three cups on hand. If you are going to be simple, get a box or large can (at least 3 cups) of organic veggie or chicken broth. Tomatoes are packed with antioxidants and, when roasted, an extra-nice dose of lycopene which is a “youth giving” phytochemical.  Beets are filled with iron & folic acid, and loaded with colon cleansing and organ detoxifying goodness.

Rinse off the tomatoes and plop them in a roasting pan or on a baking sheet with a few cloves of garlic crushed and chopped up.  Put a bit of olive oil on the mix and into an oven at about 350 degrees.  You’ll keep an eye on this as you take care of the beets.

While you have the tomatoes roasting with garlic, peel the skin off of your beets.  You can use a veggie peeler, or, in a pinch, use a knife to remove the skin.  Wearing some clean dish-washing gloves will spare you a week or so of red hands after peeling all of the beets.

TIP: save the beet greens to both cut as a garnish with a scissor or sharp knife and to use as a leafy green in your next (or first, ever!) veggie stock!

Now, add about 1/4 cup of olive oil to the bottom of your big soup pot.  Add the beets & stir.  Now, pour in your two cups of stock (chicken or veggie will be perfect here!).  Season with a generous amount of sea salt and pepper to taste.  When the tomatoes are looking shriveled a bit yet not quite blackened and charred, its time to  grab them from the oven and add them to the pot.  Stir everything together and let it simmer until the beets are well cooked. It felt like 10 minutes.  It might have been 15.  Stick a fork in from time to time to stire things up and check the “doneness.”

The simple finish:  remove the pot from heat and blend everything in with an immersion blender wand.  If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can also let the soup cool slightly and ladle it into your trusty blender to puree in batches until its all smooth.

Put the pureed soup back on the heat and let all the “freshly blended” flavors “melt together” as Chloe says, for a few minutes.  While that is simmering, you can pull out some fresh yogurt and even some horseradish for garnish.

You can serve this hot or cold, as a main dish with bread and cheese or mixed with yogurt as a creamier soup for a snack or first course.  If you want to be super chic, serve these in tall glasses as “cocktail” appetizers at a summer party.  Gorgeous right?

In Los Angeles or Palm Springs, you can hire Chloe to teach you to cook straight out of the farmer’s market, to whip up your next big dinner party or plan your next event.  Her food is addictive, with legions of fans in awe over her glamorosly fresh and beautiful food. You can reach her at chloe.peppas26@gmail.com.  Enjoy!  xoxo