Had a “business lunch” at The Chequers today, a comfy little gastro pub in Bath that does a very good lunch set meal deal (£12 for two courses, £15 for three). I ended up sharing the two courses with my business friend: she took the main, and I took the curried beetroot soup. In the words of my biz pal: “amazeballs”.

The bonus: the kind gentleman who served us explained to me how I can recreate this orgasmic soup at home. Let’s see if I can remember what he said:

The ingredients:

• ~6 cooked beetroot (boiled or roasted – roasted is better)
• 1/2 onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• cumin seeds
• coriander seeds
• caraway seeds (the “magic” ingredient)
• turmeric
• double cream

The method:

Blitz the cooked beetroot in a food processor to a fine paste. Cook up the onion and garlic with the seeds and turmeric, then add the beetroot puree and cook for a little while. Then pass everything through a muslin cloth. Stir in double cream to taste. Serve, garnished a bit of olive oil or double cream and fresh coriander.