I know, I know, yesterday was the first day of autumn. 

But I’ve been making a lot of delicious chilled gazpacho this long hot summer and I wanted to share. And anyway, it’s astonishingly still 83F/28C here in Seattle, so it’s still appropriate for Pacific Northwesterners. AND it’s a great use of all the heirloom tomatoes still at the farmers’ market.

The recipe below is one I cobbled up myself from various books and online sources.  I’ve been fiddling with it for years now and can’t remember what my sources were, sorry. I think it’s fairly authentically Spanish though.

Gazpacho

This chilled soup, which is nothing more than a whizzed up salad, is gorgeous when (if) the weather is warm and the tomatoes are juicy.  I quite often make a big pot just for us to eat at home, but it also makes a great starter for a summer dinner party, in which case you may want to add the optional garnishes. Don’t bother making this if you can’t get hold of really delicious, juicy ripe tomatoes – in the US I use heirlooms and in the UK cherries.

You will need to whizz every thing together with a handheld blender. If you don’t have one you’re going to have to do messy things with a food processor or goblet blender. If you don’t have one of those, I really wouldn’t bother making this.

Ingredients

At least a kilo/a couple of pounds of tomatoes (I usually just eyeball this and use ‘a lot’)

½ large cucumber, peeled

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1 small onion, red for preference

½ green pepper (optional, but Anaheims are nice)

2 slices white bread or 8 tablespoons fresh breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar (or substitute red or white wine vinegar)

1 big handful parsley sprig

1  large sprig mint

few drops Tabasco (optional)

1 teaspoon tomato ketchup (optional see below)

salt and pepper

FOR OPTIONAL GARNISH:

1 red pepper, chopped into tiny dice

1 green pepper, chopped into tiny dice

1 small red onion, chopped into tiny dice

2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped into tiny dice

Tiny croutons

Method

Unfortunately the tomatoes need to be peeled, which can be a pain if you are using cherry tomatoes. However that is the only hard work you’re going to have to do.

Pour boiling water over your tomatoes, wait for the skins to split and then slip them off. If the skins don’t split give them a helping hand with the point of a sharp knife. Place the peeled tomatoes into your serving bowl. Roughly chop the cucumber, onion (and pepper if using) and add to the tomatoes with the garlic, mint and parsley. Tear up the slices of bread or add the breadcrumbs. I always have a bag of fresh breadcrumbs in the freezer and add them frozen to the soup.

Whizz every thing together with your handheld blender. Add the oil, vinegar, Tabasco and salt and pepper to taste and a teaspoon of tomato ketchup if you think that your tomatoes need it (apparently they do this in Spain, so that’s OK). Stir together and chill in the fridge for at least an hour. Add a few ice cubes if you want to chill it faster.

(Teatowel by Tikoli available from mirrormirror)

After our Fourth of July party we found ourselves with a ton of grilled sweetcorn on our hands – whenever the Husband gets near a naked flame he grills like a man possessed. 

A quick search online took me to this recipe for a sweetcorn soup with roasted corn guacamole, which appears to be a slightly modified version of this soup from Epicurious,

Below are the original instructions. We just scraped the corn from plainly grilled corn cobs and used them for the both the soup and the guacamole. The soup was delicious though our version made with roasted corn was probably not as smooth and silky as the original (this did not matter in the slightest).  The real revelation though was the roasted corn guacamole, which was utterly superb and will be playing a big part in our future summer repertoire.

Corn Soup with Roasted Corn Guacamole 

Roasted corn guacamole

2 cups frozen corn, defrosted

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and black pepper

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped

1 lime, finely grated zest and juice

1/2 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded, finely chopped

1 avocado, pitted, chopped

Soup:

3 cups frozen corn, defrosted

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 red onion, chopped

1/2 jalapeno, stemmed, chopped

salt and pepper

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

Roast the corn for the guacamole: Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with foil. Put the corn kernels on the baking sheet and toss with oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and black pepper to taste. Spread the corn out evenly on the baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes, until the corn turns a golden brown. You want the corn to caramelize and get a little crunchy. Remove from oven and set aside.

Prepare the corn for the soup: Put the kernels in a blender. Combine the oil and the garlic in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and jalapeno. Season with salt and pepper and saute until the vegetables are soft and translucent, about 6 minutes. Transfer the vegetables to the blender and puree until smooth.

Pour the corn puree into the soup pot. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, decrease the heat to simmer, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.

In a bowl, combine the roasted corn, cilantro, lime zest and juice, and jalapeno. Gently stir in the avocado. Season with salt and pepper.

Ladle the soup into a bowl. Place a generous spoonful of the guacamole in the center of the bowl. Makes 4 servings.

I love summer soups, so will try and get some more recipes up here before the summer is out.