Cold summer soups (sweet or savory)

[Jaymes]

One of my summer faves is a Cold Cherry Soup, which I serve in cantaloupe halves.

Here's a recipe:

Cold Cherry Soup

3 large, or 4 small cantaloupes

4 cups water

1 orange, cut into quarters

4 cloves

1 stick cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar

3-1/4 cups cherry pie filling, very cold

1 cup dry sherry

1 pt. whipping cream, whipped

Half the cantaloupes. Scoop out the seeds and enough of the pulp to make a one-serving sized bowl. Set the pulp aside for another use. Slice a very small sliver from the bottom of the "bowl" just enough that it will sit upright. Be careful not to slice off too much, or the eater will poke a hole in the bottom as they eat, and that makes a mess. Wrap the cantaloupe bowls in foil or plastic wrap and chill until ready for use.

Prepare the soup....

In a saucepan, bring the water, orange, cloves, cinnamon and sugar to a boil. Cook 5 minutes, then strain; cool in refrigerator for several hours.

Before serving, add cherry pie filling, dry sherry and mix well. Carefully fold in whipped cream. Ladle into cantaloupe bowls and serve. Can garnish with one cherry, or mint leaves.

6-8 servings.

Edited December 3, 2004 by Jaymes (log)

[Jaymes]

What with all the chitchat in Maggie's soup thread about cold soups, thought I'd bring this back up to the top.

And point out that in the recipe above for Cold Cherry Soup, in place of the whipped cream, I sometimes put a dollop of sour cream, or even yogurt.

[Pan]

Sour cream is traditional for cold fruit (usually sour cherry) soup in Hungary.

[divalasvegas]

As anyone in or near DC knows, it's mighty damn hot here right now. Temps in the 90's are a daily occurrence. Of course, it's summertime--well, summer officially begins June 21st--and we're just at the beginning of the 3 H's: hazy, hot, and humid. I know we're not the only part of the country swealtering, nor the hottest. This isn't even the hottest I've seen DC--a few years ago we had double-digit consecutive days at 100+ degrees! Ugh.

I'm well aware of the old standby chilled soups such as gazpacho and cucumber/mint/yogurt. But does anyone out there have other recipes for chilled soups? I remember eating a chilled carrot soup from some restaurant here years ago--can't remember the name of the establishment--and it was delicious, with more than a little touch of cream. I have no clue how they made it, but would love to know how.

In particular, I would like to make batches of different types of chilled soups and carry a different one each day to work in a thermos, for a quick, yummy and cheap lunch. In that light, I'd also appreciate some idea of how long will they keep. Not forever, of course; but if I made 2 or 3 kinds of chilled soup on Sunday, which ones would hold up throughout the week and which would not? What garnishes would you suggest for your recipe(s)?

Thanks.

Sincerely,

Hot and Bothered in DC

[Susan G]

Cherry, blueberry soups.......with a garnish of mint leaves. I'd let it sit four days, maximum. Cream of mushroom, cream of almond, cream of asparagus......with chive garnishes.

Good luck keeping cool!

[divalasvegas]

Cherry, blueberry soups.......with a garnish of mint leaves.  I'd let it sit four days, maximum.  Cream of mushroom, cream of almond, cream of asparagus......with chive garnishes.

Good luck keeping cool!

←

Thanks, SusanG. I've heard of chilled asparagus soup, but mushroom and almond? Wow. I'll Google recipes for these unless you have them handy.

[Susan G]

Fannie Farmer has good, basic reipes for both.

I doctor my mushroom soup with sherry, nutmeg, lots of black pepper, and chives as garnish.

[eje]

It's a little early in the year for melon; but, I've made the Chilled Melon Soup with Lavender from this menu on several occasions in the past and always enjoyed it. If I can find decent melon, I may make it again this Saturday for a Midsummer's Eve in Provence themed get together.

Chilled Melon Soup with Lavender

[divalasvegas]

Both recipes sound delicious, SusanG and eje. Sherry, nutmeg, black pepper and chives for the mushroom soup sounds heavenly. And I'd never thought to make a "savory" melon soup--sounds fantastic too!

Keep 'em coming everybody.

Thanks.

[LBNoble]

I really like Deborah Madison's cold tomato soup w/ avocado & lime, in her cookbook."The Savory Way", very refreshing, check it out at your local library...

[sdelgato]

take one very ripe cantaloupe add a handfull of fresh basil, dash of salt and let it go in the blender. smokingly good... even better out of a frozen bowl.

[Soup]

slightly off topic, but there are people who believe in the adage "hotter the weather, the hotter the soup". Ever try really hot (spice and temp) soups? You could have a great sweat? It does cool you down a bit and can make you feel very refreshed. But then again its no air conditioning either.

Soup

[petite tête de chou]

Some favorites-

Watercress and almond

Creamy apple curry

Iced fennel

Pear vichyssoise

Chilled plum

[Busboy]

Here is a "gazpacho" I often make (with many variations):

Bit of Stolli vodka. Add chopped oi sabagi kimchi, sliced golden plums and apples, chopped plum tomatoes. Then add sieved tomato puree and water or tomato juice to almost fill the serving bowl.

Today I resteda bocconcini atop the vegetables in each bowl with a few garlic croutons.

←

Give us gringos a hint at what the more exotic ingredients are, will ya? I have to get out to a Korean neighborhood on a non-related errand, this might be doable.

On the other hand, apple season is long over and the plums are still a moment or two away. Please advise.

[Busboy]

I'm not entirely sure of the recipe, as someone has swiped my Inn at Little Washington cookbook. But, for those of us living between the Chesapeake and the Blue Ridge, pureed peaches chilled and diluted with a little Riesling seems to work pretty well.

[snowangel]

AlexP's White Gazpacho is literally heaven in a bowl. It helps to slightly blanch the grapes to peel them.

[BarbaraY]

It's a little early in the year for melon; but, I've made the Chilled Melon Soup with Lavender from this menu on several occasions in the past and always enjoyed it.  If I can find decent melon, I may make it again this Saturday for a Midsummer's Eve in Provence themed get together.

Chilled Melon Soup with Lavender

←

That whole meal sounds heavenly, especially the Pork Tenderloin with figs. My figs should be ripe within a week and I may give it a try.

[MicBacchus]

Oops - mentioned this in the 52 1/2 Weeks, 53 Soups thread, but it fits here too.

Red bell peppers were on sale so I made chilled red pepper soup (it's good hot also). So simple - stock, roasted peeled peppers, onions, dried hot pepper, some coconut milk, and garnished with Thai basil and croutons.

To quote Rachael Ray Yum-O!

[divalasvegas]

What fabulous recipes and resources, everyone. You've given me a lot of ideas. Now, I've got to get my butt in gear and get some produce and pickup a few thermoses--I think that they will be good to store as well as carry the soups. Once I create some of these soups, I'd like to post pictures of the fruits of my labor, but I still need to figure out how to do that.

Thanks again. You all are great!

[Pam R]

My blueberry soup. Garnished with sour cream it reminds me of a cold borscht.... made with blueberries!

Strawberry soup - either go the dairy route and add some cream or yogurt - or the other way and add some black pepper and sambuca.

Grape soup - or puree melons/mangoes/oranges/any fruit you like. Add some fresh herbs (even garlic).

I haven't tried it yet but I'm sure watermelon would be good in a soup... maybe doing something classic with it like mint and feta? hmmm... I'll have to try that myself.

Chilled green pea and mint.

Soup's good stuff.

[Jaymes]

You know, there are so many wonderful thoughts, ideas, recipes in this thread, as well as that other 'Chilled Soups' thread, it'd be a shame if a newcomer stumbled onto one, but missed the other.

Any chance of combining them?

[divalasvegas]

You know, there are so many wonderful thoughts, ideas, recipes in this thread, as well as that other 'Chilled Soups' thread, it'd be a shame if a newcomer stumbled onto one, but missed the other.

Any chance of combining them?

←

Great idea Jaymes. I perused the eGCI and saw a course on soups but they appeared to be about hot soups. I've seen different threads which mentioned chilled soups here and there on eGullet, but didn't know there was already one on this topic (oops, sorry). Of course since I'm somewhat technologically challenged and can barely start a topic without hurting myself, I have no clue what to do. But I'm sure out there in eGullet-land, help is on the way!

[andiesenji]

My Carrot/Sorrel/Ginger soup is good cold as well as hot. It should be thinned a bit if served cold. In RecipeGullet.

Float a slice of lime on top with a dollop of sour cream to finish.

You can also make a great cold soup by pureeing fresh salsas.

Peach/Mango salsa, mild or spicy, makes a wonderful cold soup. I make it often, particularly when I am serving pork for the main dish.

Edited June 18, 2005 by andiesenji (log)

[Jaymes]

chilled asparagus soup is awesome.

It is one of duties at one of the restaurants I work at... so here is what I do.

Sweat some shallots.

chop asparagus into pieces that are a couple of inches long.

put together with shallots in a big pot.

cover 2/3rds with cream and finish covering them with water.

cook til simmering, but do not boil...you want tender asparagus.

remove the cream and reserve.

puree the asparagus by adding cream until it reaches your desired consistency.

season to taste and chill, but keep the left over cream because it may get thicker than you want while cooling.

enjoy....

you can garnish it with mint chiffonade and pistachio oil, that's nice.

I made this for dinner this evening. Our markets are full of fresh asparagus, and all the talk about chilled soups here on eG finally got to me.

Bicycle, this soup was delicious. Thank you so much for sharing.

[Mabelline]

My diet lately has precluded choking down any hot soups, but I am finding that I really like chilled Rotel and a real nice chilled layer of a couple slices of rare roast in the bottom of the bowl. With lemon slices, of course.