By nutritional therapist Christine Bailey 

Roasting the beetroot and apple intensifies the flavour and creates a wonderfully sweet caramel-like hint to this rustic soup. Serve topped with yogurt. For a vegetarian or vegan option, use vegetable stock instead of bone broth.

(serves 2)
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
250g beetroot, diced
1 apple, cored and cut into quarters
½ onion, cut into quarters
1 garlic clove, peeled and left whole
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cinnamon
A pinch of ground ginger
Zest and juice of 1 lime
500ml chicken or beef bone broth (page 39)
Leaves from 2 mint sprigs, finely chopped, plus extra leaves to serve
100g yogurt or coconut yogurt
Sea salt and ground black pepper

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Put the beetroot in a bowl and add the apple, onion and garlic. Drizzle in the oil and toss to mix well. Tip into a roasting tin. Season with salt and pepper, and roast for 35 minutes or until tender.

Lightly toast the cumin seeds in a dry saucepan over a medium heat for 30 seconds, stirring. Put the roasted vegetables into a blender or food processor with the cumin seeds and the remaining ingredients, except the mint and yogurt, and blend until smooth. Pour into a saucepan and heat over a medium high heat until simmering. Cook for 5 minutes. Stir the mint into the yogurt. Serve the soup topped with a spoonful of the minty yogurt and scattered with mint leaves.

Gut Benefits: Beetroots are known for their ability to support bile flow, making it easier to digest and absorb fats in the diet. They are also ideal for cleansing the body. Apples contain soluble and insoluble fibre to help food to move through your digestive tract more quickly for healthy elimination.

Extracts from The Gut Health Diet Plan by Christine Bailey.

Published by Nourish Books, paperback £12.99.

Photography by Toby Scott.