Experimenting With Beets

I grew beets in the garden this year.  I don't really like beets, but they were included in the bucket of heirloom seeds that I ordered and I had room in the garden, so I planted them.  They grew well and no pests bothered them.

So, what to do with beets that I don't care for?  I searched the internet for recipes and came across a soup on http://www.allrecipes.com/ that sounded decent.  I like soup and it looked easy, so here it is, altered a bit to fit my taste:

The recipe called for six medium beets.  I'm not exactly sure what "medium" is, but I figured that my assortment of different sizes would add up to six medium ones, so I peeled them all.

3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

6 medium beets, peeled and chopped

2 cups (or more) beef bullion

salt and ground pepper

heavy cream

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat.  Stir in onions and garlic; cook until soft but not browned, about five minutes.

Stir in beets and cook for one minute.

Stir in beef bullion; season with salt and pepper; bring to a boil; cover; and simmer until beets are tender.  It took about 35 minutes for the beets to become tender.

Puree beet mixture in a blender or food processor and return to pot.  At this point, I thought the mixture was too thick to be called soup, so I added about one and a half cups more of beef bullion.  Correct the seasonings and heat thoroughly.

Serve in bowl with a swirl of heavy cream.

This actually was pretty good.  It kind of tasted like a cauliflower/leek soup that I make and love except that the beets added a bit of sweet flavor to it.

And it's lovely to look at.