BRATTLEBORO — Now that we are experiencing actual summer, not some New England version of monsoon season, I have again located my appetite. Unfortunately, my time, an essential kitchen ingredient, is nowhere to be found.
To make matters worse, August is the peak of garden produce. Corn has arrived, tomatoes are red and ripe, cucumbers are firm and crisp, potatoes pile up in their lovely hues of red, russet, and brown, and I want to cook it all.
I have greatly overextended myself this summer, and many nights have passed without the lovely evening ritual of making dinner.
The mornings are a different matter. Two or three times a week, around 6 a.m., the kitchen is a gentle blur of simmering pots, cutting boards, and immersion blenders dedicated to the making of soup. Not hot soup, but soup destined to be cold, refreshing, and full of flavor when dinnertime finally arrives.
And the beauty of these few recipes is that they take at most 30 minutes to cook, and then the soup gets put in the fridge to await dinner time.
Enhanced with a few imaginative garnishes, these easy meals are very healthy, actually quite elegant, and truly soothing after a hard day's work.
Most of these recipes use a food processor or the immersion blender, one of the very best tools in the kitchen, in my opinion, and well worth the investment. You can also use a regular blender, but make sure not to exceed its liquid capacity.
All recipes make four servings.
These first recipes require no stove top cooking whatsoever, and come together in mere minutes.
Cucumber soup
Buttermilk, with its tart creamy acidity, is a great base for cold soup. To make a simple and delicious cucumber soup, peel and seed, then coarsely chop:
¶3 cucumbers, firm and fresh
Purée in a food processor with:
¶2 cups buttermilk
¶1 cup yogurt, plain
¶1 clove garlic, chopped
¶{1/2} cup parsley, chopped
¶2 tablespoons dill, fresh
¶1 lemon, juice and zest
¶dash of hot sauce, salt, and pepper
Put the mixture in the fridge and go away. In the evening, dice into small pieces:
¶1 avocado
¶1 tomato
Place the avocado and tomato pieces into the bottom of your soup bowls and ladle the cold, creamy, zesty, acidic soup on top.
You can also add cooked beets, a few radishes or kohlrabi along with the cucumbers. Really, any fresh vegetable that you enjoy raw can be made into great soup using buttermilk and a few herbs.
Gazpacho
Gazpacho is a staple in its native Spain, and there are thousands of variations. This one is straightforward and chunky rather than smooth.
Using a food processor, combine and process until ingredients are puréed but the mixture still has some chunkiness to it:
¶6 tomatoes, ripe and cut into chunks
¶1 cucumber, small; peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
¶1 green pepper, seeded and cut into chunks
¶1 red pepper, seeded and cut into chunks
¶2 garlic cloves, chopped
¶1 cup tomato juice or water
¶{1/3} cup extra-virgin olive oil
¶2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
¶salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste.
Refrigerate and serve with a small bowl of sour cream and more hot sauce.
Salmorejo
This recipe yields a sophisticated, rich version of gazpacho.
Core, seed, and chop into quarters:
¶4 tomatoes, medium-sized, red, ripe, and beautiful
Put the tomato quarters into the bowl of your food processor, along with:
¶1 clove garlic, fresh and chopped
¶1 onion, small, sweet, and chopped
Process for about 30 seconds.
Add:
¶1{1/2} cups of the soft inside of a fresh baguette or other rustic white bread
Pulse 3 times to mix, then let resulting mixture sit for 15 minutes, allowing the bread to soften in the tomato liquid.
Add:
¶2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
¶1 teaspoon salt
Pulse 5 times, until the mixture is evenly pureed.
With the processor running, add slowly through the feed tube until the mixture is emulsified and the texture that you want (not too thin, not too thick):
¶{3/4} cup olive oil
Chill. When ready to serve, pour into bowls and top with chopped hard boiled egg and chopped cured ham or prosciutto.
If you are frugal and adventurous, take the leftover bread crusts, tear them into irregular pieces, toss with olive oil and a touch of Spanish paprika, then toast them in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes or so until brown and crisp. Serve alongside the soup.
These next recipes require just a bit more cooking, mostly softening onion and garlic before adding vegetables and stock.
Cold carrot soup
Carrots this time of year are full of their sweet, fruity, slightly nutty taste. For a great cold carrot soup, prepare a medium saucepan by melting:
¶2 tablespoons butter, unsalted
Sauté until soft:
¶1 small onion, chopped
¶1 tablespoon fresh ginger, chopped
Trim, wash, and cut into 1-inch rounds:
¶3 cups new carrots
Add carrots to saucepan. Add:
¶2{1/2} cups chicken broth, vegetable broth, or water. Bring to a boil and simmer until the carrots are soft. Using an immersion blender, purée the mixture until smooth.
Add:
¶{1/2} cup cream
¶Salt to taste
¶Pepper to taste
¶Pinch of curry powder
If you want the soup to be more refined, pass it through a strainer before chilling, but it's fine just the way it is.
Put the soup in the refrigerator and go about your day. When you are ready for supper, whisk in a small bowl:
¶{1/2} cup of crème fraîche
¶2 tablespoons finely minced herbs, such as chives, tarragon or parsley (choose 2)
Stir up your lovely golden carrot soup, add more salt and pepper if necessary, spoon it into bowls, and top with a dollop of the herbal crème fraîche.
Zucchini soup
Zucchini is already starting to get out of hand, and here's an interesting and easy way to use some of it up.
Wash and slice:
¶2 pounds zucchini
Heat in a medium saucepan:
¶3 tablespoons olive oil
Sauté for 2 minutes:
¶1 small onion, chopped
¶3 garlic cloves, minced
Add the zucchini slices and
¶2 teaspoons curry powder
Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Add:
¶3{1/2} cups broth or water
Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, until the zucchini is tender.
Purée and chill the soup. When ready to serve, stir in:
¶1 cup yogurt, plain
Peel, core, and cut into a small dice:
¶1 apple
You can use one of those new local apples that I saw the other day.
Ladle the soup into bowls, top with a generous spoonful of yogurt, the diced apple, and a handful of chopped fresh mint.
Chilled corn soup
I had to include a recipe for chilled corn soup, although it does take a bit more time to make, but it is especially sweet and perfect for August.
Remove kernels, reserving cobs as well, from:
¶6 ears sweet corn
Melt in a medium saucepan:
¶a few tablespoons of unsalted butter
Sauté until soft:
¶2 leeks, washed, trimmed and sliced
Add the corn and the corn cobs to saucepan, along with:
¶1 bay leaf
¶4 cups stock
Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, remove and discard the cobs, and purée the soup with an immersion blender.
Here's the part that might seem unnecessary but really makes the soup silky and smooth. I highly recommend straining the soup into a bowl using a fine sieve, pressing down with a rubber spatula until all the liquid is extracted.
Chill. When ready to serve, garnish with:
¶torn basil leaves
¶a drizzle of your best extra-virgin olive oil or a swirl of heavy cream
You can spice up this soup by adding in with the corn 1 or 2 hot peppers, seeded, and substituting 1 cup coconut milk for 1 cup of the stock.
Garnish with:
¶fresh lime juice
¶cilantro
You can also make this into a special and very lovely supper by adding some cold crab or lobster meat and a spoonful of crème fraîche.
Vichyssoise
Perhaps the most famous of chilled soups is the always-delicious vichyssoise, a chilled leek/potato soup.
Melt in a large saucepan:
¶2 tablespoons butter
Cook until soft, about 3 minutes:
¶3 leeks, washed, trimmed, and chopped
Add, then bring to a boil:
¶3 potatoes, peeled and chopped
¶4 cups chicken stock
Lower the heat to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Purée with an immersion blender.
Add:
¶{3/4} cup heavy cream
¶salt and pepper to taste
Again, just put this in the refrigerator for the day. When you are ready to eat, top the soup with a few minced herbs (chives are classic). Serve with a great loaf of bread and a perfect local cheese - and maybe a small green salad - and you will have one of the great meals of summer.
* * *
Cooking in the morning when the house is quiet and the kitchen is your own private sanctuary is not a bad way to start any day.
And when the day is hot and long, the reward at the end of a cool bowl of soup that is both refreshing and already prepared really can't be beat - even if you are.