The next best thing to plunging in a cold pool on a hot summers day is to enjoy a beautiful homemade cold soup.
Cool summer soups are a great way to enjoy vegetables in the summer months and they are surprisingly hearty and really easy to make. Most recipes require little or no cooking and are often just pureed in a blender. If you’ve never tried a cold soup, why not make one this summer?
Gazpacho:
This is a classic cold soup. Break two slices of crusty bread into pieces and pour two tablespoons of red-wine vinegar over the bread. Place this bread mixture into a blender then add one clove of garlic, teaspoon of sugar, one capsicum, one cucumber and three green onions. Blend until smooth. You can also have it chunky if you prefer. Refrigerate in a jug until cold and serve with ice cubes and chopped cucumber as a garnish. Have Tabasco sauce on hand for your guests if they like spicy flavours. If you want your Gazpacho to be sweeter, add a few pieces of watermelon to the mix.
Spinach Prawn and Avocado Soup:
This is a rich, creamy soup that will surprise a lot of your guests. Saute one chopped onion in a large stockpot until soft. Add two cloves of garlic, a pinch of turmeric and a pinch of curry powder to the onions. Top with four cups of chicken stock, three chopped spring onions, two cups of chopped baby spinach and cook for five minutes. Then let it cool. Stir in two cups of plain yoghurt and reheat very gently so that it doesn’t curdle. Take off the heat and cool again, then stir in sauteed shrimp and one diced avocado.
