Two recipes that let summer's best fruit star. First, an unusual savory-sweet soup I call 'Fruity Gazpacho' that's good as an appetizer, an entrée, even a dessert. It mixes fruits and vegetables and is positively fresh and delicious. Next up, a light and summery fruit salad, sweetened with no more than a little sugar and fresh mint.
Blame the gazpacho.
Yes, it was a bowl of tomato-y, onion-y, pepper-y soup that heaved my culinary style into the camp called seasonal fare.
Setting: A basement meeting room in a downtown hotel in Kansas City.
Time: November, not the unseasonably warm and sunny golden days that Missourians love but an unseasonably wet and bone-chilling day that Missourians dread.
By noon, the group was shivering and starved, happy to move just to generate heat, better yet to hunt up lunch in the next room.
Waiting there were big bowls of soup. “Ooo,” we thought. “Something warm.” But instead the soup was cold, spicy gazpacho, a summer specialty. Not a spoonful was eaten.
So make it hot soup in November. But on a steamy summer day, cold soup is refreshing and soothing. This is a new-this-summer favorite shared by a Webster Groves reader who reports that her young sons eat it up.
It’s savory enough for a starter, hearty enough for a main dish and sweet enough for a dessert – really!
If you’re watching calories closely, the avocado creates a creamier texture but isn’t essential.
READER RECIPE: FRUITY GAZPACHO
Makes 5 cups
- 1/2 a honeydew melon, skin washed well before cutting
- 2 cups green grapes
- 1/2 a cucumber, preferably English, peeled if not
- 1/2 a green pepper
- 1/2 an avocado
- 1 jalapeno, seeds & membrane removed
- Zest & juice of a lime
- 2 tablespoons Italian parsley
- Optional, quartered grapes and diced cucumber, pepper and avocado for garnish
Mix all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.
SUMMER FRUIT SALAD
- Blackberries or cherries
- Green grapes
- Peaches, chopped
- Other fresh fruit, to taste
- 1/4 cup packed fresh mint
- 3 tablespoons sugar
Gently combine the fruit. Whiz the mint and sugar in a food processor and sprinkle over the fruit.
More 'Fruit Salad' Desserts
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Your Comments:
Love the plate too!
Visited your blog for the first time today. Liked your Summer fruit salad idea. Have some fresh mint in the fridge right now. So will try out your fruit salad today