Sellers Publishing - 150 summer soups: the only compendium of summer soups youll ever need

A Quintet Book
Published by Sellers Publishing Inc.
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e-ISBN: 978-1-4162-4520-9

150 Summer Soups copyright 2013 Quintet Publishing Limited. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American copyright conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form, by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Sellers Publishing, Inc. e-books.

August 2013

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Quintet Publishing Limited
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When youre planning a special meal, a bowl of cleverly garnished soup is ideal for setting the style in the first course. Serve any one of the stunning soups in this chapter and you will feel like the host with the most.

This very simple soup will remind you of the lazy hazy south of Francehealthy, tasty, colorfulthe simple pleasures of life in the sunshine! Serve with toasted rustic or farmhouse bread.

3 large potatoes

3 large tomatoes

about 1 1/2 quarts cold water

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 onions, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, halved

4 baguette slices, toasted

2 tbsp. dried fines herbes de Provence (or a combination of tarragon, parsley, and chervil)

Peel potatoes and cut them in half. Blanch tomatoes for 15 seconds in boiling water, then drain, cool, and peel. Cut them in half and remove seeds. Put potatoes and tomatoes in a large saucepan filled with the cold water. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let simmer, covered, for 1 hour. Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add onions and fry for 20 minutes over low heat, without burning them. Add 1 cup of liquid from the tomatoes and potatoes saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Put onion mixture into a blender. Drain potatoes and tomatoes, reserving the liquid. Add them to the blender. Pure, adding as much liquid as necessary from the saucepan to achieve the desired consistency. Season to taste.

Rub garlic halves over the toasted bread slices. Put the slices on the bottom of soup bowls and add the soup. Sprinkle the chopped herbs on the top. Serve very hot.

Serves 4

Sweet, tender seared scallops marinated in ginger and lime are a real gourmet treat perfect for dressing up a simple tomato soup.

2 tbsp. sunflower oil, plus extra for frying

2 shallots, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 hot red chilies, seeded and finely chopped

1 lb. cherry tomatoes

4 1/4 cups vegetable stock

1 tsp. grated fresh ginger

juice of 1 lime

1 tsp. chopped fresh mint, plus extra to garnish

salt

12 scallops, shelled and cleaned

2 tbsp. vodka

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the shallots, garlic, and chilies. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and stock. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.

In a separate bowl combine the ginger, lime juice, mint, and a pinch of salt, and pour onto the scallops. Set aside until the soup is cooked. Process the soup in a blender until smooth, then strain it back into the rinsed-out pan. Add salt and keep warm.

Heat a nonstick skillet. Add a drizzle of oil. Add the scallops and marinade, and sear on each side for 1 minute, until just cooked. Stir the vodka into the soup and ladle it into bowls. Pile three scallops in the center of each portion. Sprinkle with a little mint and serve.

Serves 4

provenal soup with pesto

Prepare the basic recipe, but instead of finishing off the soup with the dried herbs, put 1/2 teaspoon of fresh pesto on top of each bowl of soup to serve.

provenal soup with croutons

Prepare the basic recipe, but instead of putting the garlicky bread slices on the bottom of the bowls, make some croutons with 3 slices of white bread, cut into cubes and fried in a little oil until crisp and lightly browned. Sprinkle these over each bowl of soup to serve.

provenal soup with celery

Prepare the basic recipe, giving some extra flavor to the soup by adding 3 stalks celery, strings removed, to the potatoes and tomatoes. Instead of sprinkling the dried herbs on top of each serving, garnish with 1 finely chopped small celery stalk and a few celery leaves.

spiced cherry tomato & vodka soup with garlic scallops

Prepare the basic recipe, adding 1 crushed garlic clove to the marinade for the scallops.

spiced cherry tomato & vodka soup with seared squid

Prepare the basic recipe, using 6 cleaned squid in place of the scallops. Pull the tentacles from the body, then slice the body into rings, and continue as before, searing for about 1 minute until just cooked.

spiced cherry tomato & vodka soup with shrimp

Prepare the basic recipe, using 12 shelled, deveined raw tiger shrimp in place of the scallops.

iced cherry tomato & vodka soup

Prepare the basic recipe, omitting the scallops. Leave the soup to cool, then chill it for at least 2 hours before serving.

Frozen peas that are frozen almost as soon as they are picked often have a better flavor than fresh vegetables, and they are perfect in this luxurious, yet simple, soup.