Beetroot and celery soup

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 2 beetroots, fist-sized
• 2 celeriac, slightly larger than your fists
• 1 m.-sized onion(s)
• 1 piece(s) ginger root, about thumb thick
• 1 small chili pepper(s)
• 1 m.-sized apple
• 200 ml milk
• 500 ml vegetable stock
• 1 handful of pumpkin seeds
• 1 stalk(s) leek
• some oil (grape seed)
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 50 minutes

Peel and chop the beetroot, celery, and onion. Sauté in grapeseed oil. Add the finely chopped apple with its skin. It’s okay if it browns a bit. Deseed the chili pepper and chop it finely, as well as the peeled piece of ginger, and add it too. My soup is quite spicy; the chili pepper plays a role. If you prefer it milder, leave it out, as the ginger also adds some spice. I like to add a few seeds, which intensifies the heat a bit. Deglaze the browned vegetables with the milk and vegetable stock until everything is well covered. Cook for 20 minutes. Finally, puree everything with a hand blender. If you want to make a soup, strain the liquid through a sieve; otherwise, it will be a bit thicker. Season the soup with salt and pepper. Toast the pumpkin seeds in a pan without any fat until they crackle in the pan. Remove from the pan. Add a little grapeseed oil to the pan and add the finely chopped leek, season with salt and pepper. Serve the pumpkin seeds and leek as a topping to the soup.