It’s clearly too hot to cook all over most of our country unless you count eggs on sidewalks. I just got word from friends in both Baltimore and Atlanta who have power outages due to the heat and are just about at the ends of theirs respective ropes. Who wouldn’t be? The issue at our house is that although it may be too hot to cook, it’s never (in my opinion) too hot to eat. We’ve been dining on salads and sandwiches for days so I thought I’d up the ante a bit with a couple of cold soups tonight. Once we were in New Orleans at a small bistro and had this marvelous little cup of gazpacho with some frozen avocado stuff floating on top. It was a heavenly taste for an amuse bouche, but not enough to satisfy hungry men for dinner. I’m using that soup for inspiration, and making two cold soups that can be enjoyed together - our “house gazpacho” we call Almost Frozen Tomatoes and Chilled Avocado Soup - aka Guacamole Soup! Both are refreshing, pretty and made without turning on a stove which is definitely the way to go. We’ll finish with the Frozen Key Lime Pie from Richard’s cookbook and be all “chilled out”. The stove may be on hiatus, but the blender is getting a workout. Enjoy these soups together or just make one, but definitely give your stove and yourself a break and try to stay cool – but not hungry!
Ingredients
3 tomatoes, quartered
1 onion, quartered
1 bell pepper, red or green, quartered
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 cucumber cut in pieces
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp dried oregano or 1 Tbsp fresh
1 small can V-8 or tomato juice
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
Several dashes of hot sauce (to taste)
Optional: small pinch of sugar if tomatoes aren’t sweet enough
*Most gazpachos have a bit of olive oil to add depth and hold everything together. We happen to really like this recipe and not miss the oil, but if you would like to add ¼ cup of olive oil, by all means do that. You are the boss of your kitchen!
Directions
Put all ingredients in blender and pulse until combined and chopped to desired consistency. Taste for seasonings. I like to put the gazpacho in individual serving bowls and put them in the freezer for about an hour until slightly frozen and slushy around the edges.
Ingredients
2 avocados peeled, seeded and cut in half
2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives or 1 clove garlic
2 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup Half & Half
Juice of ½ a lemon
Dash of hot sauce
¼ tsp black pepper
Salt about ½ tsp: chicken broth has varying amounts of salt so you really must taste
Directions
Put all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. Taste for seasonings. This is delicious served immediately, but you can refrigerate for a couple of hours, or put in the freezer for an hour to get really cold and slightly slushy. Garnish with chives if desired.
Note: visit Strands to see where they’ve been traveling this summer!
