Cool Summer Soups

Chilled Fish Soup

Ingredients

Serve4

500g unpeeled cooked prawns
2 strips lemon peel
2 bay leaves
2 blades mace
Salt and pepper
4 small squid, cleaned and gutted
2 spring onions, green parts only, chopped
4 tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped
2 tbsp peeled and chopped cucumber

Method

Peel prawns, putting shells, heads and tails into saucepan. Reserve prawns. Cover with 940ml/ 33/4 cups water and add lemon peel, bay leaves, mace and salt and pepper.
Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain stock through a muslin-lined sieve or coffee filter paper. Return stock to rinsed-out pan. Cut squid into thin rings and chop tentacles. Add to pan and cook for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Stir in spring onion, tomatoes, cucumber and reserved prawns. Season if necessary. Chill for at last 1 hour before serving.

Summer Avocado Soup

Ingredients

Serve 4-6

2 ripe avocados
3 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
155 ml 2/3 cup, single cream
625 ml 21/2 cups cold chicken stock
dash Tabasco sauce
salt and pepper
1/2 avocado, diced, and snipped fresh chives, to garnish

Method

Halve avocados, discard stones and scoop flesh into a blender or food processor. Add lemon juice, garlic and cream and work to a purée.
Blend in stock and season with Tabasco and salt and pepper.
Turn into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap to prevent discoloration and chill for 1 hour.
Serve with diced avocado and snipped chives.

Clear Beetroot Soup

Ingredients

Serve 4-6

1 onion, coarsely grated
1 large carrot, coarsely grated
parsley spring
1 bay leaf
1 litre-4 cups chicken stock
1 egg white juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper
thin strips lemon peel, to garnish

Method

Put vegetables into a saucepan with herbs and stock. bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Strain soup and return it to rinsed-out pan. To clear soup, bring to the boil. Whisk egg white, then pour into pan and simmer gently for 15 minutes.
Strain soup through a muslin-lined sieve. Add lemon juice, then cool and chill. Season the soup before serving and garnish with thin strips of lemon peel.

Vichyssoise

Ingredients

30g butter
3 leeks, trimmed, sliced and washed
1 shallot, finely chopped
250g potatoes, sliced
785ml 3cups light chicken stock
pinch ground mace or grated nutmeg
salt and pepper
155ml 2/3 cup single cream
snipped fresh chives, to garnish

Method

Serve 6

Melt butter in a large saucepan, add leeks and shallot, then cover and cook gently for 10 minutes without browning. Add potatoes, chicken stock and mace or nutmeg.
Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Purée in a blender or food processor, then pass through a sieve. season with salt and pepper.
Set aside to cool, and then stir in two-thirds of the cream. Chill until ready to serve. ladle into bowls, swirl in remaining cream and garnish with snipped chives.

Soup Normande

Ingredients

serve 4-6

30g butter
1 Spanish onion, chopped
1 tsp mild curry powder 500 eating apples
750ml 3cups chicken stock
2 egg yolks
155ml 2/3 cup double cream
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper
mint leaves, to garnish

Method

Melt butter in a large saucepan, add onion and cook gently until soft. Stir in curry powder.
Reserve 1 apple, then peel, core and chop remainder. Add to pan and cook for 1 minute. Pour in stock and bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Purée in a blender or food processor, then return to rinsed-out saucepan.
beat egg yolks with cream and add to the soup, heating gently until thick. Do not boil. Cool, and then chill for at least 2 hours. Peel, core and dice remaining apple and toss in lemon juice. Just before serving, add apple to soup, season and garnish each portion with mint leaves.

Watercress and Almond Soup

Ingredients

Serve 4

2 large bunches watercress
30g butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
500ml vegetable stock
60g blanched almonds, toasted and ground
4 tsp cornflour
500ml milk
salt and pepper
flaked almonds. lightly toasted, to garnish

Method

Wash watercress and reserve a few sprigs for garnish. Cut away any coarse stalks and chop remainder.
Melt butter in a saucepan, add onion and cook gently until soft. Add watercress and cook for 2 minutes, then stir in stock, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Purée in a blender or food processor and return to rinsed out pan with the ground almonds. Blend cornflour with a little milk, then add to pan with remaining milk and cook gently over a low heat for 5 minutes, stirring until smooth.
Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Season, then serve garnished with a few toasted flaked almonds sprinkled on top and reserved watercress sprigs.

Summer Tomato Bisque

Ingredients

Serve 6

1kg ripe tomatoes, chopped
3 springs onion, chopped
½ red pepper, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
500 ml 2cups vegetable stock
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
60 ml ¼ crème fraiche
Salt and pepper
1 avocado and snipped fresh chives, to garnish

Method

Put tomatoes, spring onions, red pepper and garlic in a saucepan with stock and sugar.
Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to cool. Purée in a blender or food processor then sieve into a bowl. Cover and chill for 2 hours. Stir in the basil, crème fraiche and add salt and pepper.
Halve avocado and discard stone, peel and slice. Ladle soup into individual bowls, arrange avocado slices on top, then sprinkle with snipped chives and serve.

Gazpacho

Ingredients

Serve 4-6

500g ripe tomatoes, skinned and chopped
½ cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
60g soft breadcrumbs
6 tsp olive oil
6 tsp red wine vinegar
500ml 2 cups tomato juice
½ tsp dried marjoram
Salt and pepper

Method

Put all soup ingredients into blender or food processor, in 2 batches if necessary.
Blend until smooth. The soup should be the consistency of single cream; if it is too thick add a little iced water. Turn the soup into a bowl, cover and refrigerate for about 2 hours before serving.
When the soup is well chilled, season if necessary and add few ice cubes.
Serve with a selection of garnishes. Put 2 chopped hard-boiled eggs, finely diced ½ cucumber, finely chopped onion, 12 stoned and chopped green or black olives and 1 diced green pepper into separate bowls.