Chill Out With Cold Soups
Posted by Julie on Aug 2nd 2018
It's still unbearably hot outside, and there's only so much ice cream we can eat. While soup is traditionally a cold-weather meal meant to help warm us up, cold soups can help us cool off in hot weather.
Whether you're already a fan of chilled soups, or you're stuck on the idea that soup must be hot, we've found a recipe or two that might get you excited about refrigerating your soup before you eat it. Keep reading to check out our suggestions, and let us know if you give any of them a try.
Cold Avocado Corn Soup With Cilantro Oil
If the idea of cold soup doesn’t sound appealing to you, start with this recipe from Epicurious. It will take some prep work, but the combination of ingredients sounds delicious. It's perfect for seasonal summer eating.
The soup base starts with roasted fresh corn, boiled with water, salt, garlic, and onion, along with pieces of the corn cob. Don’t worry; you’ll toss the cob. Other key ingredients include avocado, serrano chile pepper, cilantro oil, and crema. Plan ahead to ensure your soup has time to cool between steps, and to be properly chilled before serving.
Watermelon Gazpacho
You may have heard of gazpacho, a classic cold soup that hails from Spain. One of the most popular variations on this classic includes watermelon, such as in this recipe from Love and Lemons. Watermelon does not make this soup sweet. Instead, it helps balance the vegetable flavors.
Watermelon gazpacho is a refreshing way to enjoy watermelon, and put some of those homegrown tomatoes to good use too. The recipe calls for an English cucumber because this variety is seedless. You can leave out the jalapeño if you don’t want the spice, or keep it if you like a little zip. Use your blender to puree the ingredients, but be sure to hold onto some diced vegetables to stir in before chilling.
Salmorejo
If you’re ready to broaden your horizons a bit further, try salmorejo. It’s another Spanish soup that is similar to gazpacho. We found several salmorejo recipes, but we were drawn to this recipe from Spanish Sabores because it comes directly from a Spanish mother-in-law. Author Lauren has tasted salmorejo all over Spain, and she loves this recipe best.
Salmorejo calls for lots of tomatoes, which makes it perfect for an abundance of homegrown tomatoes. Be sure to use the very best tomatoes and olive oil you can find, plus sherry vinegar. A couple surprise ingredients blended into this soup include a hard boiled egg and the soft inside of a baguette. Garnish each bowl of soup with more diced hard boiled egg, along with prosciutto (or serrano ham, if you can find it).
Okrashka
Branch out even farther, and you’ll find okrashka, a cold Russian soup. Authentic okrashka is made with kvass, a fermented drink made from rye bread, yeast, and water. However, it’s permissible to substitute kefir, which you can find at most grocery stores in the yogurt section.
This is another soup that will take some prep work. Hard boiled eggs and boiled potatoes are key ingredients, along with radishes, cucumber, and fresh herbs. Dice the eggs, potatoes, and vegetables to quarter-inch cubes. Chill thoroughly before serving.
Mul Naengmyun
Looking for something that’s way out there? Try this Cold Korean Noodle Soup recipe from Serious Eats. It's also known as Mul Naengmyun. It calls for some specialty ingredients and requires a bit of prep time, but it’s bound to impress. Hit up your local Korean market for pickled radish and brine, naengmyun noodles, and Asian pear.
The inactive prep includes two hours in the refrigerator, and another three hours in the freezer. You’ll start defrosting the broth before you cook the noodles. Then assemble bowls full of noodles, broth, and brisket, garnished with cucumber, Asian pear, and hard boiled eggs.