KenK > wrote:

> It's 110+ here again today and a bowl of icy cold soup for lunch in a few
> hours really sounds good. Can anyone suggest a recipe or point me at a
> simple one with common ingredients so I don't have to go to the grocery in
> my A/Cless vehicle? I have no preferences though I try to keep my diet
> mostly low fat. I've never tried preparing cold soup so this will be a
> first for me.

I do not know if sorrel is common where you are, but if it is, fresh or
jarred, you can make the Russian green schchi.

Green (sorrel) schchi.

Use beef or chicken stock, or water. Take the same amount by volume of
finely chopped or shredded sorrel as there is stock or water and cook it
in butter over low heat until it is soft and wilted and is giving off
juice. Add it to the stock or water, juice and all, and cook a bit to
allow the flavours to meld. Season with salt and pepper and,
optionally, add some lemon juice if the soup is not sour enough.
Optionally, cube some potatoes (small cubes), cook, drain and add to the
soup. Put some chopped hard-boiled eggs and a dollop of sour cream in
each plate. Optionally, add some green onions to each plate. The soup
can be served hot or cold. If served cold, potatoes are not used.

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Or make crème vichyssoise glacée, basically just a version of potage
Parmentier served cold, which was a creation of sorts of Louis Diat, a
great French chef at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New York, in 1917. In
his "Gourmet's Basic French Cookbook" he remembers how his mother added
cold milk to her leek and potato soup on hot days. Jacques Pépin
mentions that he learnt to make this soup from Louis' brother, Lucien,
in France, at the Plaza-Athénée.

Crème vichyssoise glacée

3 large leeks, white parts only, washed well and sliced thinly
2 tablespoons butter
2 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
3 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 cup whipping cream

Garnish: chopped chives

Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat, then stir in the leeks
and saute at a very low temperature, stirring occasionally, until they
are golden. Add the stock, potatoes, and salt--bring to a simmer, then
cover and simmer for 40 minutes. Puree, then press through a sieve to
get a very fine texture (twice, to please Diat). Return to the saucepan,
add the milk and pepper, and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat, stir
in the cream, adjust for seasoning (cold soups should be slightly
overseasoned), and chill overnight.

When ready to serve, ladle into serving cups and sprinkle with chopped
fresh chives.

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Or make one of the variations of cold summer soups by M.F.K. Fisher,
from her _With Bold Knife & Fork_.

Shrimp Cucumber soup

2 tablespoons mild prepared mustard
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 cup or 1 can peeled shrimp, with juice
1 quart buttermilk

Mix mustard, cucumber, and shrimp in bottom of tureen. Add buttermilk
and stir well. Chill at least 6 hours.

A Summer Soup

1 to 2 tablespoons prepared mild mustard
1 cup chopped tomato
1 cup chopped watercress
1/2 cup chopped scallions and tops
1/2 cup fresh herbs, if possible
1 quart buttermilk

Mix all together roughly. Chill at least 3 hours. Then season to
taste, which will depend upon the strength of watercress and so on.

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If you have pickled beetroots, you can make a version of quick
svekolnik. Chop the beetroots in bite-sized pieces. Put some boiled
eggs, green onions and dill through the coarse screen of the
mincer/grinder or chop it in the food processor (or just mince it with a
knife very finely indeed). Put the minced ingredients in the pickled
beetroot liquid together with the chopped beetroots and refrigerate for
at least two hours, preferably longer, to let the flavours meld. Chop
some more of the eggs, green onions and dill more coarsely and
refrigerate them, too - just to keep them cold. To serve, put the
coarsely chopped ingredients in the soup plates or bowls, pour over the
liquid with the beetroots, etc, put in a dollop of sour cream in each
plate. Better yet, mix that sour cream with the equal amount of
prepared mustard, a bit of dill and a bit of lemon juice and put it in
the soup.


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Or make gazpacho. The recipe is from the Time-Life Books, Food of the
World series.

Gazpacho
Cold Fresh Vegetable Soup

To serve 6 to 8

SOUP
2 medium cucumbers, peeled and coarsely chopped
5 medium tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium green pepper, deribbed, seeded and coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
4 cups coarsely crumbled French or Italian bread, trimmed of crusts
4 cups cold water
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
4 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon tomato paste

In a deep bowl, combine the coarsely chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, onion
and green pepper, garlic and crumbled bread, and mix together
thoroughly. Then stir in the water, vinegar, and salt. Ladle the
mixture, about 2 cups at a time, into the jar of the blender and blend
at high speed for 1 minute, or until reduced to a smooth pureé. Pour
the pureé into a bowl and with a whisk beat in the iolive oil and tomato
paste.

(To make the soup by hand, pureé the vegetables and bread mixture in a
food mill or, with the back of a large spoon rub it through a sieve set
over a bowl. Discard any pulp left in the mill or sieve. Beat the
olive oil and tomato past into the pureé.)

Cover the bowl tightly with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at
least 2 hours, or until thoroughly chilled. Just before serving, whisk
or stir the soup light to recombine it. Then ladle it into a large
chilled tureen or individual soup plates.

GARNISH:
1 cup 1/4-inch bread cubes, trimmed of crusts
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1/2 cup peeled and finely chopped cucumbers
1/2 cup finely chopped green peppers

Accompany the gazpacho with the bread cubes & the vegetable garnishes
presented in separate serving bowls to be added to the soup at the
discretion of each diner.

NOTE: If you prefer crisp croutons for the garnish, fry the bread cubes.
In a 6- to 8-inch skillet, heat 1/4 cup of olive oil over moderate heat
until a light haze forms above it. Drop in the bread cubes and, turning
them frequently, cook them until they are crisp and golden brown on all
sides. Drain on paper towels and cool.