Beetroot and Carrot Soup

Oh, how I love this soup, and I make it whenever I can get really good examples of the main ingredients. It feels like it is doing me good with every mouthful. It comes from Gennaro Contaldo's book, "Italian Year", a wonderful evocation of seasonal Italian cooking from his home region around the Amalfi Coast - an area we know and love. Gennaro says this needs to be made with the big earthy Autumnal root veg that arrived in my veg box this week, so I just had to make it. It isn't difficult - equal quantities (about a pound each) of carrot and beetroot (raw, of course, not pickled in a jar!) sweated in olive oil with a large onion, several cloves of garlic, a couple of sticks of celery, sliced and some fresh thyme. Cover with veg or chicken stock, simmer, and blitz with a hand blender. I like to keep a little of the raw beetroot and carrot to one side, which I grate in after blending, for a bit of textural variation, but this is entirely optional. Either way, a wonderful thick, sustaining and healing soup - great for vegans too, if you use the veg stock. Fab colour too!