Special thanks to my dear friend and stellar food writer Serena Norr for contributing these delicious recipes for chilled summer soups. Serena has an entire website devoted to soup recipes. If you're a soup lover like I am, you must check it out!
It’s finally here: the glorious summer season! I love this time of year for the warmer and longer days, the chance to spend more time outdoors and the opportunity to indulge in fresh and seasonal ingredients. Although not typically everyone’s favorite soup season, I think the summer is a great time to experiment with various flavors to create refreshing and lighter summer recipes like chilled soups. Typically this involves Gazpacho, a classic tomato-based soup, but I also love to stew and blend various fruits and vegetables with fresh herbs, yogurt and spices such as the recent experiment I tried in a post called One Cantaloupe, Three Soups. Through this experiment, I used cantaloupe as the base in three different recipes, which resulted in a refreshing Prosciutto and Melon Mint Soup, a Green Tea-Infused Melon Soup topped with Dried Apricot and a Triple Melon Basil Melon Soup. Although the base ingredient was the same – mixing up the ingredients and the flavors created three very different but equally delicious soups. Since there are no rules with soup making (and cooking, in general), trying new flavors will not only open up your palate but it will allow for some exciting (and delicious) out-of-your-comfort zone soup recipes. Happy summer and happy soup making!
Gazpacho
Ingredients:
1 container of cherry tomatoes (or any type of tomatoes you prefer)
2 cups of water
1 red pepper, chopped up
1 cucumber, chopped up
1/2 of a red onion, chopped up
1 red pepper, chopped up
1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice
2-3 bunches of fresh basil
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
Directions:
Chop up the tomatoes, cucumber, onion and pepper into small squares. Place in a bowl with olive oil and lemon and let marinate for 15 minutes. Add the vegetables to a blender with one cup of water and grind the ingredients together. Pour in a bowl and taste with salt and pepper. Add more water and let chill for 2-3 hours. Serve cold.
Prosciutto and Melon Mint Soup
Ingredients:
1 cantaloupe, cubed
½ cup of water
¼ cup of Greek yogurt such as FAGE
2-3 sprigs of fresh mint
½ tablespoon of lime
1 package of prosciutto
Directions:
Boil the water in a pot and add the mint and lime. Cut the cantaloupe, along with the prosciutto and add them to the pot. Let cook for 5-10 minutes. Turn off the flame and add the mixture to a blender. Let chill for 2-3 hours and serve cold.
Green Tea-Infused Melon Soup
Ingredients:
1 cantaloupe, cubed
3-5 bags of green tea
1 tablespoon of honey or agave nectar
1 tablespoon of lemon
3-5 dried apricots
Pinch of ginger or fresh ginger
2 cups of water
Directions:
Boil water. Place tea bags in the water and let seep, along with ginger, lemons and honey
for 10 minutes. Add the cantaloupe and apricots to soften. When cool (about 30 minutes),
remove the tea bags and take out the apricots and cut lengthwise. Place in the blender,
along with the rest of the contents. Let chill for 2-3 hours and serve cold.
Triple Melon Basil Melon Soup
Ingredients:
¼ cup of cantaloupe, cubed
¼ cup of honeydew, cubed
¼ cup of watermelon, cubed
Pinch of ginger
Splash of lime
½ cup of water
2-3 sprigs of fresh basil
Garnish: red basil
Directions:
Boil water on a low heat. Cut up the melons and add them to the pot, along with ginger, lime and basil (you can also add honey or lemons, if you wish). Let cook for 5 minutes – stirring periodically. Turn off the flame and blend the mixture together. Chill for 2-3 hours and top with red basil.
Serena Norr, a Brooklyn-based writer, started Seriously Soupy as a way to learn more about soups and experiment with new ingredients. You can read more about her weekly soupy adventures at http://seriouslysoupy.com.
