Hot soups that are appropriate for summer

[Lochina]

I'm really in the mood to make soup, but it's hot and muggy here in New York and I can't have something too heavy. I'm looking for ideas on light, vegetable-y soups. I was thinking along the lines of Soup au Pistou. Any other ideas?

Thanks.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I'm really in the mood to make soup, but it's hot and muggy here in New York and I can't have something too heavy. I'm looking for ideas on light, vegetable-y soups. I was thinking along the lines of Soup au Pistou. Any other ideas?

Thanks.

Here's my recipe for Summer Buddha Soup

Chicken Stock:

1 Chicken, cut up

1 large hand of garlic, finely julienned

1 or 2 bunches of scallions

1 large bunch of lemongrass, chopped

1 or 2 cups sake

Make a stock as you would from our eGCI classes but in this case, you get a broth that is especially oriental flavored. It also defats well if you can wait an extra day. Remove the chicken meat from the bones and reserve for soup.

From the local farmer's market, assemble a collection of fresh Oriental veggies:

Baby Bok Choy

Mushrooms

Scallions

Snow Peas or Sugar Snap Peas

Broccoli

Carrots

And also some non-vegetables:

Shredded Chicken

Tofu

Udon or Soba noodles (pre-boiled)

The basic trick is to get the Oriental chicken stock BOILING hot and pour it over whatever you would like in your soup. The vegetables, being fresh, will lightly cook and still be very crunchy and light.

Season with a dash more sake and soy sauce (for salt).

A word on the 'harder' vegetables... I have actually served this as a beautifully displayed buffet for smaller dinner parties. I pre-blanch the harder vegetables like the carrots and snow peas so that there isn't really a wait for them too cook. I lay out all the soup-fixins for the guests who put what they want into their bowls and then ladle in the broth. Those that don't want alcohol can leave out the sake and the saltiness is also adjusted a la minute.

Also, it works well for several days, but NOT if you try and cook the vegetables as a regular soup, re-heating it each day. It is a great summer soup because the vegetables are very fresh and still crunchy.

[Lochina]

Yum yum yum! This sounds like a great idea...thanks, Carolyn!

[jackal10]

I like clear soups in summer, like consomme or clar borscht. Good hot or cold.

Lots of lovely fresh veg soups:

Lettuce

Tomato

Cucumber

Sorrel

Spinach

Carrot (with orange, coriander etc)

Leek and potato

etc

Master recipe:

Soften 1lb onions peeled and chopped in a little butter or EVOO.

Add a glass of sherry, and the cleaned, and chopped vegetables of choice

Cover with a lid and simmer gently until the vegetables very soft.

Liquidise, ideally sieve, and dilute to desired consistency with milk or stock, or if feeling puritan use water. Reheat, Correct seasoning. Garnish (swirl of cream, croutons etc)

[Malawry]

I think Tom Yum soup would be refreshing in summertime. I crave sour flavors when it is hot out.

1c chicken stock

1 small piece galangal

1 stalk lemon grass, cut on bias

2 kaffir lime leaves

3-4oz chicken breast meat

1-2oz straw or button mushrooms

1 cup coconut milk

1 tsp salt or fish sauce

Chile paste, if desired

2 tbsp lime juice

1-2 red chiles

Cilantro

Heat stock. Add galangal, lemon grass, lime leaf, and chicken. When it’s half-cooked, add mushrooms and coconut milk. Boil. Season with salt or fish sauce. Add chile paste and lemon juice. Add chiles and serve very hot.

[marie-louise]

Corn Chowder (corn, new potatoes, bacon, onions, jalapenos and other peppers)

Mexican Vegetable Soup-the kind you get in Mexican restaurants, with chicken & tortillas in it.

[schaem]

Tomato-Bread soup with basil.

[mcdowell]

Corn Chowder (corn, new potatoes, bacon, onions, jalapenos and other peppers)

Mexican Vegetable Soup-the kind you get in Mexican restaurants, with chicken & tortillas in it.

Mmmm.. Actually making corn chowder today with corn we picked up 6 ears/$1 at a farmstand in the central valley (california) a few days ago.

My favorite summer soups are cold. Cucumber is my favorite for a hot day, sometimes enough to carry me through the day with no other food. I also recently did a roasted red pepper soup that was really good at room temperature, but didn't work cold.

[MatthewB]

The Summer Vegetable Soup here is very good. I made it last summer & I'll make it again this summer as soon as more local veggies arrive.

[snowangel]

I recently had (at a restaurant) an outstanding red lentil and chipotle soup. I'll work on recreating it. It was perfect on a hot day.

I tend to crave spicy when it's hot out (and I'm not eating sweet corn ).

[fresco]

The least appreciated aspect of Mexican cooking, in my opinion, is their way with soups--tortilla, cactus, various fish varieties, etc. --and all appropriate to hot weather.

[essvee]

Here's a very delicious and light recipe from my cheffin' days. Sorry about the quantities. Make sure you don't use too much stock; the soup should be quite thick. Enjoy.

CORN SOUP WITH CHIPOTLE BUTTER

2 CS WHITE CORN 26.40

12 QTS CHOPPED ONION 4.40

½ # BUTTER 1.16

12 BAY LEAVES .25

S+P .15

=32.36

2 CANS CHIPOTLES 1.50

2# BUTTER 4.64

=38.50

SHAVE KERNELS FROM COBS AND RESERVE PLACE COBS IN SOUP POT AND COVER WITH WATER ADD SALT AND BAY LEAVES BRING TO BOIL AND SIMMER FOR 1 HOUR STRAIN CORN STOCK PLACE CORN, ONION AND BUTTER IN SOUP POT AND COVER WITH STOCK BRING TO BOIL AND SIMMER 10 MINUTES ADD REST OF STOCK, SALT AND PEPPER BRING TO BOIL AND SIMMER 10 MINUTES EMULSIFY VERY WELL AND DO NOT STRAIN ROBOTCOUPE BUTTER, CANNED CHIPOTLES AND A LITTLE BIT OF SALT ADD HEAPING TEASPOON CHIPOTLE BUTTER TO EACH SERVING

YIELD: ROUGHLY 12 GALLONS

SERVINGS: 192

COST PER SERVING: .20

[Really Nice!]

I'm really in the mood to make soup, but it's hot and muggy here in New York and I can't have something too heavy. I'm looking for ideas on light, vegetable-y soups. I was thinking along the lines of Soup au Pistou. Any other ideas?

Thanks.

Hot and muggy is a relative term. :-) What is hot and muggy in Seattle is comfortable in New York, New York. Our best bet is to go with something that parallels the equator. Have you ever noticed that cuisines centered around the equator are more centered around hot (spicy) food than cuisines that are towards the poles? The reason for this is that hot foods encourage persperation, and persperation cools the body's temperature.

Look for Mexican, Southern India, Thai, Northern South America, and Northern Africa cuisines and you should find something that fits a hot and muggy scene that reduces the heat temperature that we experience.

It's late, let me know if I'm not making sense...

[tissue]

I think Tom Yum soup would be refreshing in summertime. I crave sour flavors when it is hot out.

1c chicken stock

1 small piece galangal

1 stalk lemon grass, cut on bias

2 kaffir lime leaves

3-4oz chicken breast meat

1-2oz straw or button mushrooms

1 cup coconut milk

1 tsp salt or fish sauce

Chile paste, if desired

2 tbsp lime juice

1-2 red chiles

Cilantro

Heat stock. Add galangal, lemon grass, lime leaf, and chicken. When it’s half-cooked, add mushrooms and coconut milk. Boil. Season with salt or fish sauce. Add chile paste and lemon juice. Add chiles and serve very hot.

You can also use shrimp.

[tanabutler]

Another vote for corn soup, here.

Roasted Sweet Corn Soup with Smoked Trout and Heirloom Tomatoes from Bobby Flay via FoodTV.com.

My favorite corn soup recipe is Bobby Flay's "Roasted Corn Soup with Smoked Chile Cream" from his Bold American Food cookbook. Corn, white wine, stock and cream. Top with sour cream/green chiles/lime juice.

The soup is easy:

6 ears of corn roasted on the grill in their husks

2 T unsalted butter

1 onion, diced fine

1 T minced garlic

2 c. dry white wine (for this, chardonnay works well, and grassy wines like sauvignon blanc less well, I think)

5 c. chicken stock

2 c heavy cream

drizzle each bowl with smoked chile cream (below)

Sweat the onion and garlic in melted butter for 3-5. Add wine, bring to a boil and reduce 10-15, until you have about 4 T. Reduce heat to low, add corn kernels (which you have obviously scraped from their cobs) and sweat for 5. The corn, not you—except it is damned hot in the kitchen, isn't it, in the middle of the summer?

Add chicken stock and bring to a boil, then reduce to medium and simmer for 20. Uncovered. The soup, not you. Wait, it's hot in that kitchen, so maybe you can take your clothes off.

Raise the heat to high again, add the cream, and bring to a boil. Stir occasionally for 10-15, until soup has thickened.

Purée 3/4 of the soup , return it to the pan, and s/p to taste.

Bobby says "12 bowls" worth, but I think that's stingy. Meaning, serve six people and keep the rest for yourself!

To make that: stir together 1/2 c. sour cream, 2 t canned/puréed chipotles (I use non-puréed canned diced green chiles—delicious!), 1 t lime juice, s/p. Keeps in the fridge up to one day.

Edited August 10, 2003 by tanabutler (log)

[mamster]

That Thai soup sounds like tom kha, not tom yam. Tom yam has at most a drizzle of coconut milk and often starts with water rather than stock; I make a quick shrimp stock and sour it with both tamarind and lime juice.

I enjoy Chinese hot and sour soup in summer, too, especially the one whose recipe I gave in my column. Here it is in the recipe archive. There are also hot and sour soups in there from Anna N and =Mark which I'm sure are good.

Tortilla soup is great in summer, too.

[Malawry]

Mamster, I defer to your superior knowledge of Asian cuisines. Whatever you call it, it's an excellent soup.

[Eric_Malson]

I personally think Portuguese "sopa alentejana" would fit the bill just fine. I like it any time, but its clear textures and more-or-less light quality make it well-suited for summer eating. Miss bergerka is especially fond of this dish!

For one portion: in a wide, shallow soup bowl, put some cubes of stale bread (enough to cover the bottom and then some), some chopped or sliced garlic (2 or 3 cloves, or more, to taste), some salt, some chopped cilantro, a good glurg of olive oil, a poached egg, and finally some water just off the boil (enough to make it a soup, but not so much that the other ingredients are swimming around helplessly....just use the water you poached the egg in). It's wonderful, and couldn't be simpler.

You can also combine all ingredients in a tureen and ladle out, but I find the individual bowls thing easier.

Edit: Oops! I just noticed the word "vegetable-y" in the initial request.... that this recipe isn't, obviously, but it's tasty anyway.

Edited August 10, 2003 by Eric_Malson (log)

[tanabutler]

Eric, whenever I see your profile, I laugh about what your Mom said. (I'm still learning my way around people here.)