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Summer Soup Recipes

Posted by timethief • 8/03/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: cooking, recipes, soups, vegetables

As the garden is burgeoning with fresh vegetables this is the time of the year when making summer soups both hot and cold is my thing. The vegetable soup I took to our Lammas celebration was so well received that there was none left over. Today I've made Roasted Tomato Soup which we will have cold for dinner. The remainder will be frozen to eat this winter.

Roasted Tomato Summer Soup
Ingredients
* 2 pounds Roma (plum) tomatoes, quartered
* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* 4 cloves garlic
* 1 quart chicken stock
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
* 1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
* salt to taste
* ground black pepper to taste
* dill to taste

Instructions
1. Cut the tomatoes into halves and place them side up, on a baking dish with the garlic cloves. Drizzle with the oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in a per-heated at 375 degrees F (195 degrees C) for 1 hour.

2. Remove the garlic cloves and cut the ends off. Then squeeze the insides into the bowl of a food processor along with the entire contents of the baking dish. Add stock, basil,dill, and vinegar; blend until smooth. Season to taste. Serve either hot or cold.

Discussion Questions:
(1) Do you prefer cold summer soups to hot summer soups?
(2) Do you have a summer soup recipe that you would like to share by posting it here?

User Comments

8/03/08

crpitt

That sounds lovely!

I am a soup fiend and would pick soup over chocolate (really).

1) Soup always has to be hot for me.
2) Is watercress soup a summer soup?

[reply]
1. 8/03/08
  
  timethief
  
  @crpitt
  I have a very small patch of watercress but my two friends have bigger ones. Do you have a recipe that I can try?
2. 8/03/08
  
  crpitt
  
  Yes! I absobloodylutely love watercress soup, it is full of all sorts of goodies.
  
  I dont really follow recipes, but this one is pretty close.
  
  1 Onion, peeled and roughly chopped
  25g butter
  250g potatoes, peeled and diced
  600ml chicken stock
  2 x 85g bags of watercress, roughly chopped
  50ml cream
  a little milk if needed
  salt and black pepper
  
  Method
  In a large pan, cook the onion in the butter until soft but not browned.
  
  Add the potatoes and stock and cook until the potatoes are soft (approx 15-20 minutes). When potatoes are almost cooked, add the watercress (try to allow not longer than 5 minutes cooking time for the watercress). Liquidise, add the cream. Use a little extra milk if the soup seems too thick. Season with salt and black pepper and serve hot.
  
  I also whack in some spinach, but the stronger tasting the watercress the better.
  
  This website is excellent www.watercress.co.uk/recipes/soups.shtml
3. 8/03/08
  
  timethief
  
  duplicate removed
4. 8/03/08
  
  timethief
  
  @crpitt
  Thank you so much ♥ HUG ♥ It sounds really yummy.
  Also I can't wait to check out the site but it's supper time now so I'm off to eat.
8/03/08

clioandme

I am of the dump-whatever-you-have-in-the-pot-and-cook-it school. That works better in the winter and spring when I've got a lot of roots from my CSA. If I start getting a lot of cucumbers though, I might just look up a recipe for a cold soup. Last time I got rid of excess by juicing the things.

I used to love my mother's gazpacho soup.

Your recipe has got my mouth watering.

[reply]
1. 8/03/08
  
  timethief
  
  @markstoneman
  I have a ho-hum gazpacho soup recipe. Do your have your mom's recipe? I'd love to try it.
2. 8/03/08
  
  clioandme
  
  No, and I think she just goes by what looks right.
3. 9/23/08
  
  polybore
  
  I'm interested in your CSA Mark. Have you done a post about it?
8/03/08

clioandme

One thing I also sometimes do is make a vegetarian broth with simple organic bullion cubes and then throw in broccoli. When it's done, I puree it and add sour cream. I forget what herbs go in, but I just go with what I have and maybe consult my wife first.

Towards the fall when there is celery root I can do the same thing, but I cut the celery root in cubes, and I take maybe half out before pureeing and then add them again. Forgetting, but maybe I would add a tiny tiny tiny bit of cloves? My wife's better at knowing that. (Same thing works for turnips.)

[reply]
1. 8/03/08
  
  timethief
  
  @Mark
  I do the same thing that you describe.
8/03/08

drjay1966

Sounds good, Timethief.
What time should I be over?

[reply]
1. 8/03/08
  
  timethief
  
  @drjay1966
  You're not getting in the door without a recipe for a summer soup or biscuits to go with it.
  Come on now you've got to have at least one favorite, right?
2. 8/03/08
  
  drjay1966
  
  Well, currently it would be: put on pants. Go out the door. Lock the door. Walk around the corner to the Japanese deli. Go in to the Japanese deli. Get bowl. Take bowl to sushi bar for tofu, scallions, and seaweed. Fill bowl with miso soup. Pay. Take home. Enjoy!
  Is that good?
3. 8/03/08
  
  timethief
  
  @drjay1966
  You cracked me right up. I live in the bush. You have access to a Japanese deli. What a contrast. LOL
9/23/08

Jeunelle

Here's another cool soup to add to your collection.
Jamaican Seafood Soup

This spicy soup makes good use of the fresh seafood that is so abundant in the Keys.
The seafood is cooked separately, then added to the soup to prevent overcooking.
Use whatever crabmeat is available if you can't get stone crabs.
Jerk seasoning is very spicy, so begin with a small amount and increase it according to your taste.

2 ounces (about 2 slices) apple-smoked bacon or other smoked bacon, chopped
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup diced leeks
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon Jamaican jerk seasoning or to taste
2 cups fish stock
2 cups diced fresh plum tomatoes 9about 1 pound)
1/2 bunch tarragon (1/2 ounce), leaves removed and chopped
salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 pound medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, and chopped
1/4 pound stone crabmeat, picked over and chopped
1/4 pound snapper, dolphinfish (mahimahi), or grouper fillet, chopped
Garnish: croutons, sliced scallions, or yogurt

#1. In a saute pan, cook the bacon until crisp.
#2. Remove from the pan and drain.
#3. To the drippings in the pan, add the onion, celery and leeks.
#4. Cook over low heat for 15 minutes until translucent.
#5. Stir in the brown sugar and continue to cook for 3 minutes.
#6. Add the cayenne and jerk seasoning and cook for 1 minute.
#7. Pour in the fish stock and the tomatoes.
#8 Simmer for 30 minutes.
#9 Add the tarragon and salt to taste.

Heat the butter in a small pan over low heat and add the seafood.
Cook for a few minutes until done.
To serve, put some of the seafood in each soup bowl along with your choice of a garnish,
and top with the hot soup. Serves 4.

One of my favorites and easy to make. Hope you decide to try it sometime.

[reply]
1. 9/23/08
  
  timethief
  
  @Jeunelle,
  Thanks for that recipe. The Roasted Tomato Summer Soup can be eaten hot as well as cold. There's also a chicken soup one I posted into Anok's thread this morning. Here's the link www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/so-i-think-im-insane#comment_593224
2. 9/23/08
  
  Jeunelle
  
  Yeah I saw that one...my Grandma makes the best chicken soup.
  To this day she won't let anyone stay in the kitchen with her to see how she cooks.
  She actually locks herself in the kitchen...it's kind of weird.
  I should put a spy camera in there to see what she's doing but if she finds out, I'm dead meat.
9/23/08

kat822

It is officially fall, no soup for you

[reply]
9/23/08

Jeunelle

Soup is cyclical...well for me it is.
I prefer hot soups.

[reply]
9/23/08

DocNicole

YUCK! Cold soup...lol you are crazy TT! I like to make "refrigerator soup" once a week. Everything in the fridge that has to go...goes in the soup with some stock and seasonings...a little rice...maybe some beans and voila!

[reply]
1. 9/23/08
  
  timethief
  
  @DocNicole
  That sounds like what I do the day before market day. Every vegetable that hasn't been eaten goes into my soup pot. What we don't eat on the day I make it I then freeze to eat later on.
9/23/08

Anniepooh

My favorite cold soup is strawberry - delicious! Now that this OLD thread has been revived, though - I'm on to nice hot soups.

[reply]
1. 9/23/08
  
  timethief
  
  @anniepooh
  The roasted tomato soup recipe I posted can be served either hot or cold. If you have a "hot" soup recipe to post then please go for it here or link to one on your blog.
2. 9/23/08
  
  Anniepooh
  
  Nope - I was just picking on Jeunelle
9/23/08

Jeunelle

@Anniepooh..I know I sound like Goldilocks and the 3 bears.
"I want my soup just right".

[reply]
9/26/08

timethief

Creamy Wild Rice Soup
Makes 8 cups
Ingredients
* 2-1/4 cups water
* 1/2 cup wild rice, native or cultivated
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 2 cups sliced leeks, white and light green parts only (about 4 leeks)
* 2 cups chopped celery (about 4 stalks)
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
* 1 clove garlic
* 5 cups no-fat chicken broth
* 2 cups red potatoes, skins on, chopped (about five small potatoes)
* 2 cups parsnips, peeled and chopped (about 3 medium)
* Additional chopped parsley

Instructions
1. Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan and add wild rice and simmer until al dente and nut-flavored, about 25 minutes for native wild rice and 60 for cultivated.
2. Meanwhile, heat a four-quart Dutch oven and melt butter and add leeks and celery, sauté on medium high until soft and just beginning to brown.
3. Add parsley and garlic, sauté another minute or two.
4 Add chicken broth and bring to a boil and the add potatoes and parsnips and return to a boil.
5 Reduce heat and simmer 20 – 30 minutes or until potatoes and parsnips are soft.
6 With a blender, purée hot vegetable broth, leaving some chunks. Stir in wild rice and serve.
7. Season to taste and garnish with parsley.

I recognize that the season has changed from summer to fall but rather than starting a new thread I decided to keep out soup recipes all together in one thread.

[reply]
9/26/08

SweetViolet

I don't care for cold soups The just seem wrong, somehow.

But hot soups are an integral part of our winter fare. The cooking soup warms up the house and fills it with a wonderful aroma. Hubby loves to walk in the house after work when I've been simmering soup all afternoon.

Our "regular" soups

Chicken vegetable soup
minestrone
steak soup
clam chowder
potato and leek soup
split pea and ham
hamhocks and bean soup
New England Boiled Dinner
Barley beef soup

Recipes available on request

[reply]
9/26/08

timethief

sweetviolet
I've never heard of "New England Boiled Dinner". What's it like please?

[reply]
1. 9/26/08
  
  jaffermaniar
  
  I think this entry should give you an idea en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_boiled_dinner
2. 9/27/08
  
  SweetViolet
  
  That's very close, Maniar, but my experience with the boiled dinner does not include rutabage or parsnip.
  
  I learned this meal when I lived in Boston. Use a smoked shoulder (picnic ham), soak it overnight in cold water to leach out some of the salt, then boil it in fresh water with two onions (cut into large pieces until it is fork tender (stick a fork in the meat and twist it. If the meat flakes, it's done.)
  
  Remove meat from pot and set aside, covered. To the pot add cut up carrots and potatoes and boil for 20 minutes. Next add cut up turnips and I add some sliced celery, although this is not traditional, and a head of cabbage, cut into large chunks. Cover and cook until the hard veggies are soft (about another 10-15 minutes).
  
  Serve in deep bowls with plenty of broth, serve the meat on the side with mustard.
  
  This is also known as a "wash day supper"
9/26/08

timethief

@Jaffer
Thanks

[reply]
9/26/08

bradhart

I would off another place for these not to get lost over time is www.mysuperrecipe.com It is all user generated recipes and is nofollow free so feel free to plug your own blog.

Quick and Easy Gazpacho

2 Large jars salsa any flavor, but make sure they don't clash.
Puree contents of one jar and pour into a bowl. Fill the empty jar with 50/50 with chicken stock and cream, cap and shake well to rinse the jaw and sir into the puree mixture. Chill both the soup mix and the remaining jar of salsa. At serving time stir half the remaining jar of salsa into the soup and ladle the rest over the top. Add a little dollop of sour cream and possibly some grated cheese if you like.

I usually use the the large jar of medium salsa from aldi for the puree and a jar of the chipotle pineapple from walmart as the chunky addition.

[reply]
1. 9/26/08
  
  timethief
  
  @bradhart
  I have to be extremely cautious about what I eat so I don't "do" commercial.
  However, others reading this may be able to use commercial salsa and soup mixes so thanks for posting it.
2. 9/26/08
  
  bradhart
  
  It works well with homemade salsa too. I have done it with stuff I have canned, just use the same proportions.
9/26/08

melindaville

Wow--that sounds like a fabulous summer soup recipe. If I do say so myself, I make one heck of a great gazpacho. Les is the primary cook in our family but I do all sauces, soups, salads--and I make the best homemade veggie burgers you ever tasted!

I love soups--soups as a whole are one of my favorite things to eat! So comforting!

[reply]
9/26/08

hadrian1407

Looks great and tasty to me...will try and add to my soups recipe. Please visit mine as well...thank you

[reply]
7/04/09

timethief
[reply]
7/04/09

hippygourmet

How about Vegan Coconut Soup? It's perfect for the summer - www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s88G-dfhDU

[reply]
1. 7/04/09
  
  timethief
  
  I have a wonderful vegan coconut corn soup recipe.
7/04/09

timethief
[reply]