Cooks Corner

THE NEW TOWN PRESS presents: The Cook's Corner Featured Article by Jean Redstone

While salads are traditional hot weather meals, the wonderful produce of summer needn’t stop at the salad plate. Or at the barbecue grill, where we are so accustomed to basting, steaming or grilling corn, peppers and onions, even zucchini and other squash, that charred veggies have become a new norm.

There is another, often overlooked, use for the summer field vegetables and it’s perfect for hot summer dinners and lunches. I’m talking cold soups.

Gazpacho soup, for instance, was invented for the summer. Refreshingly cold on hot summer days, the classic Spanish soup deliciously combines the best of summer vegetables.

And of course, there’s vichyssoise (vishy-swahz), the cold potato soup whose very name conjures rolling farmland hills in the French countryside. This traditional summer soup is usually served cold, but is also delicious hot.

Our own South Jersey cooks have long known the burst of flavor in soups made from local produce and the common cantaloupe and cucumber feature prominently in two of the following recipes. Both are creamy and satisfying.

Vegetables and fruit are plentiful right this very minute so there is no excuse to use anything but the freshest, highest quality ingredients for your cold soups. The fresh taste alone will please your palate, and you’re sure to enjoy the savory, cool and healthy veggies. These soups are filling and paired with buttered bread or chips and dips or salsa, will make a great evening meal on a hot day.

GAZPACHO

3 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 medium cucumber, seeded, chopped
1 sweet red or green bell pepper seeded and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1Tbs. chopped fresh parsley OR ½ tsp. dried parsley leaves
1 Tbs chopped fresh chives
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/8 C red wine vinegar
1/8 C olive oil
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice OR 1 ½ tsp bottled juice
1 tsp sugar
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
3 or more drops of Tabasco sauce (to taste)
½ to 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, optional
2 C tomato juice

Combine all ingredients. Mix in blender until you like the consistency, whether coarse or creamy. Place in plastic or ceramic storage container, cover tightly and refrigerate overnight to let the flavors to blend. Stir before serving. Makes four generous servings.

VICHYSSOISE

6 fresh leeks
1/4 C butter or margarine
2 C thinly-sliced potatoes
4 C chicken stock

1 tablespoon salt
1 C heavy cream

1/4 C chopped chives

Remove stem-ends and green tops of the leeks, leaving about two inches above the white portion, then slice crosswise. Melt butter in a saucepan, add leeks and cook until they just begin to turn golden (about five minutes). Add the potatoes, chicken stock and salt. Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, (about 30 minutes).

Force the potato mixture through a fine kitchen sieve and into a ceramic or plastic bowl. Stir in the cream. Cool. Refrigerate and chill thoroughly, at least several hours. Serve in soup dishes, garnished with chives. Serves four to six.

NOTE: Other garnishes that work well are paprika, freshly ground black pepper, diced red sweet pepper or, for a zing, red pepper flakes.

CHILLED CANTALOUPE SOUP

1 large cantaloupe, fruit cut away from the rind and cubed

2 Tbsp honey

Juice of 3 limes OR equivalent of bottled lime juice

Pinch of cardamom

4 strawberries (garnish)

Microwave cantaloupe on medium for 2 minutes. Blend in a processor with the remaining ingredients until smooth. Serve in chilled bowls; garnish with the strawberries. Makes four servings.

COLD CUCUMBER SOUP

3 medium cucumbers, divided
2 tablespoons butter
1 leek, chopped (white part)
2 bay leaves
1 Tbsp flour
3 C vegetable or chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
1 C half and half

juice of 1/2 lemon
Chopped dill
Sour cream

Peel and thinly slice 2 cucumbers. In a large pot, melt butter; add sliced cucumbers, leek, and bay

leaves. Cook slowly until tender, but not brown. Discard bay leaves. Stir in flour, mixing well. Add vegetable or chicken broth and salt. Bring mix just to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Puree mixture through a sieve or in a blender or food processor. Chill soup in refrigerator for several hours.

Peel, halve, and remove seeds from remaining cucumber, then grate. Add to soup with half and half cream, lemon juice, and dill to taste. Correct seasoning with salt and pepper. Chill in refrigerator for at least another 30 minutes, so soup will be icy cold when served.

Serve in cold soup cups and top each serving with a dollop of sour cream.

Makes six servings.

If you send a recipe, please include a phone number should there be any questions about it. We might use the recipes in a future column or post them on our website.

Email your creations to:
cookscorner@newtownpress.com or newtownpress@comcast.net

Send recipes by mail to:
Cooks Corner
The New Town Press
421 Stone Meeting House Rd.,
Woolwich Twp., NJ 08085

Send recipes by fax to: 856-467-3364

THANKS for SHARING!