1teaspoonfresh thyme leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried, try and use fresh
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
½cupheavy cream
Minced red onion and sour cream to serve
Instructions
In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Sauté the onions for about 5 minutes until tender but not browned.
At this point if you have an immersion blender, continue to make the soup in the pot. Add beets, broth, lemon juice, honey, thyme, salt and pepper. If you need to simmer the mixture until the beets soften a bit more, go ahead and do that. When the beets are very tender stick the blender in and blend away until smooth.
If you want to continue with a food processor or blender, great – scrape the onions into a the machine of your choice, then add the beets, 1 cup of the broth, juice, honey, thyme and salt and pepper and puree until smooth. Return the mixture to the pot and add the rest of the broth.
Either way, after the mixture is back in the pot, you add the cream and heat over medium-low heat until the whole thing is hot. Or if you would like to serve it cold, just stir in the cream and chill the soup for a few hours.
Serve the soup in mugs or bowls with the chopped onion and sour cream.
Notes
This is also finished with a bit of sour cream (sometimes I thin the sour cream out with a little milk if I want to swirl it in, fancy pants style, vs. a sturdy plunky dollop), or you can use yogurt or crème fraiche. Anything creamy hanging out in your fridge. And then something else for a little textural contrast if you feel like it—I went for some finely chopped red onions.