Chilled Soups for Summer

[donna]

A delightful and refreshing way to combine herbs and fresh garden produce is to concoct cold soups. Begin a light summer meal with a cup of chilled soup made from fresh herbs and summer vegetables. It does require planning ahead as you need chilling time, but is well worth the effort.

One of the favorites is Cold Cucumber Soup

6 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped cucumber ( 3 t0 4)
5 mint leaves
2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup homemade chicken stock
juice of 1 lime

Place the cucumbers and mint in a blender or processor and whirl to a fine puree. Add the buttermilk, chicken broth, and lime juice and mix well. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving. It should be icy cold. Garnish with fresh mint leaves.

Serve this soup on a hot day with herb bread and a pasta salad. Or you can try it as a refreshing beverage.

Makes 1 quart.

 

[donna]

Many cold soups go back a few centuries and some at turn of 20th century. They have always been refreshing for many cultures.

 

[donna]

Cold Peach Soup, one of my family's favorites:

3 cups peaches and juice (canoed or frozen)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

place all ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth. Serve cold.

 

[donna]

Cold Crab Soup

1 can cream of asparagus
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 up milk or to be richer half and half
sherry to taste
loose crabmeat

Process soups and milk in blender. add a little sherry. Stir in crab. Serve cold.

This is a delicious soup. I prefer using half and half.

 

[Jimklag]

Cold Crab Soup

1 can cream of asparagus
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 up milk or to be richer half and half
sherry to taste
loose crabmeat

Process soups and milk in blender. add a little sherry. Stir in crab. Serve cold.

This is a delicious soup. I prefer using half and half.

This one sounds really good.

 

[Eleanor Rose]

Something about cold and soup just don't go together for me. Of course there was a time when I felt the same way about coffee and now I'm addicted to frappuccinos.

 

[truthckr]

I'm of the same mindset as @Eleanor Rose. Still, with hot weather on us I may have to give these recipes a try. Thanks for posting.

 

[AshleyMel]

I've only had a cold soup once, years ago, and while it was delish, it was a strange sensation. My mind kept telling me, "It's soup! It's supposed to be hot! What are you eating!"
My husband was pastoring a church in Southern California and during a terrible heat wave our air conditioner broke. We were miserable. One of the members of the church showed up with this wonderful dish made by her mother to give us some relief while her husband fixed our situation. It was a cold seafood soup with shrimp and crab in a vegetable broth and was very light and refreshing! Thanks to their kindness we were able to make it through that long and hot evening!

 

[Eleanor Rose]

It was a cold seafood soup with shrimp and crab in a vegetable broth and was very light and refreshing! Thanks to their kindness we were able to make it through that long and hot evening!

We may need to send some of this to some of our CWT friends who are experinecing a heat wave right now! How does that sound @Hannah and @Mike Serpa?

 

[Jimklag]

A delightful and refreshing way to combine herbs and fresh garden produce is to concoct cold soups. Begin a light summer meal with a cup of chilled soup made from fresh herbs and summer vegetables. It does require planning ahead as you need chilling time, but is well worth the effort.

One of the favorites is Cold Cucumber Soup

6 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped cucumber ( 3 t0 4)
5 mint leaves
2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup homemade chicken stock
juice of 1 lime

Place the cucumbers and mint in a blender or processor and whirl to a fine puree. Add the buttermilk, chicken broth, and lime juice and mix well. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving. It should be icy cold. Garnish with fresh mint leaves.

Serve this soup on a hot day with herb bread and a pasta salad. Or you ca.n try it as a refreshing beverage.

Makes 1 quart.

A year or so before I retired, my wife and I were in a New Jersey restaurant and we tried gazpacho for the first time. It was a revelation. She has since tried to make it a few times and was completely successful with Alton Brown's recipe on foodnetwork.com.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/gazpacho-recipe-1937573

 

[kel1985]

A delightful and refreshing way to combine herbs and fresh garden produce is to concoct cold soups. Begin a light summer meal with a cup of chilled soup made from fresh herbs and summer vegetables. It does require planning ahead as you need chilling time, but is well worth the effort.

One of the favorites is Cold Cucumber Soup

6 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped cucumber ( 3 t0 4)
5 mint leaves
2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup homemade chicken stock
juice of 1 lime

Place the cucumbers and mint in a blender or processor and whirl to a fine puree. Add the buttermilk, chicken broth, and lime juice and mix well. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving. It should be icy cold. Garnish with fresh mint leaves.

Serve this soup on a hot day with herb bread and a pasta salad. Or you can try it as a refreshing beverage.

Makes 1 quart.

Years ago when I was in the Navy assigned to mess duty, we had to prepare several cold soups for my ship's Captain as he was hosting a party with Dennis Connor (America's Cup captain), the one they decided on was a cold zucchini soup that was similar to this, I wish I could find the recipe. This looks good though!!

 

[donna]

Have to try to find cold Zucchini soup. Sounds like be good.

 

[donna]

Today, June 21 is the first day of summer. Here sre some great chilled soups to make.