Monday, August 13, 2007

Please rescue me from Texas! Anyone!


I have no right to complain, as we have had an unusually mild summer. But, dude! I am roasting down here in my own natural juices! Our oven heats up our apartment so much that our dinner guests sweat, so we have decided to experiment with recipes that require little or no cooking, and can be eaten cold. First experiment: chilled soups.

We had chilled soups on two cruises and really like them. It wasn't something I was excited about, but after tasting them I became a fan. Yesterday we made some sort of bulghur wheat salad with chickpeas, tomatoes, mint, basil and feta, and this chilled soup.

Chilled Curried Carrot Soup (epicurious.com)

1 small onion, sliced thin
1 T olive oil
4 carrots (about 3/4 lb, peeled, sliced thin)
1 t curry powder (or more)
1 T. purchased chutney, chopped fine (like Major Grey's or similar)
1 c. chicken broth
1 c. water
1 c. ice cubes
1-2 t. fresh lemon juice
1 T. minced fresh cilantro
1 T. minced peanuts

In sauce pan, cook the onion in the oil over moderately low heat until soft. Add the carrots, curry powder, and chutney and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add broth and water and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes or until the carrots are very tender. In a blender, puree the soup in safe batches with the ice and lemon juice until smooth. Transfer to a metal bowl set in larger bowl of ice water. Chill in the refrigerator, stirring occasionally, until cold (recipe says 10 minutes, we needed more like 60 minutes). Serve in chilled bowls, sprinkle with cilantro and peanuts.

Makes about 3 cups.

1 comment:

Watoosa said...

I might have to make this. I've always been a fan of gazpacho and vichyssoise. Once as a kid I had an argument with a waiter that went something like this:
Waiter: "You don't want that, little girl. It's cold and spicy."
Me: "I know what gazpacho is. Bring it to me now, you fool."
(Okay, so I added in the fool bit for effect.)

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