There’s nothing better than a cold soup to feed and refresh you when the temperature is soaring. Here are 4 favorites (and only one of them calls for heating up a stove). All make about a quart:
4 Cold Summer Soups to Savor
- Cold Cucumber Soup: This came from a surplus of cucumbers when we had a farm share. It’s a really refreshing soup, with a nice kick from some pepperoncini.
- Salmorejo: We fell in love with salmorejo (sal·maw·ray·yow) when we were in Madrid. It’s a close cousin to gazpacho, but with only bread, tomatoes and olive oil, please try to find the best you can. If you can get away with early tomatoes for gazpacho, for salmorejo, you need to be patient just a little longer. But it’s so worth it!
- Vichyssoise: While waiting for great tomatoes for salmorejo and gazpacho, we’ve been grabbing some leeks and potatoes and have been making weekly versions of this great potato leek soup. It does require cooking but do it early in the day and you’ll have cold soup by lunch or dinner. In the cooler weather, it’s also great hot.
- Gazpacho: Saving the best for last–I’ve run this recipe a lot, but it’s just so, so good. Finally thought the tomatoes were good enough to make a batch and that’s what’s for dinner tonight. Good tomatoes and good olive oil are key here and we like a little heat, so there’s usually some jalapeno lurking in it. Enjoy!
My verdict:
A blender is essential for the best gazpacho and salmorejo. Trust me I’ve tried “cheating” with a food processor and just end up with more dishes to wash, when I give up and pull out the blender. My new blender is powerful and has a large capacity jar. It makes the gazpacho in a heartbeat and when I sieve it, it takes no time.
For the vichyssoise, I generally use an immersion blender, but here a blender or food processor would work (if maybe a little overkill). I make the vichyssoise without cream, and just add the cream to get it to a nice consistency when I serve it.
I haven’t made the cucumber soup since I’ve been in France. There is a version of buttermilk, called lait ribot, but I keep forgetting to try it. And the pepperoncini might be another stumbling block, I’ll have to check out the local supermarket.
