I’m a little recipe happy these days. I just can’t help myself with the incredible summer farmers market bounty (as evidenced by last weeks farmers market meals experiment). Here’s another one for you. Happy Friday!
Chilled Cherry and Heirloom Tomato Soup
Adapted from a recipe by Jose Andres of Think Food Group (I found it reprinted in The Week Magazine)
The original recipe called for plum tomatoes, green bell pepper, and sherry vinegar. We didn’t have any of those on hand, so I substituted heirloom tomatoes, jalapeno pepper – which gave the soup some great heat – and red wine vinegar. This is truly one of the most amazing, complex, and satisfying summer soups I’ve ever had. And with the amped up vitamin C, potassium, and fiber content of the cherries and tomatoes, how can you go wrong?
Ingredients:
- 4 large heirloom tomatoes, cut into quarters
- 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon chopped jalapeno pepper (make sure you remove the seeds first…they are HOT!)
- 1-1/2 pounds of fresh cherries (you want the sweet ones for this…Bing, Rainier, Lapin, etc.)
- 1 tablespoon raw or brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic
- 6 tablespoons red wine vinegar (or more to taste)
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil (or more to taste)
- salt to taste (start with a couple of teaspoons)
Directions:
Pit and halve the cherries. Save about a half cup of cherry halves for garnish. Throw everything else into a blender and puree. Taste for acidity – this will vary depending on how sweet your cherries are. You can add more vinegar to make the soup more acidic or more sugar to make it less acidic.
Pour the gorgeous pink liquid into a container and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving. (Not strictly necessary, but good for letting the flavors mingle a bit.) Serve with cherry halves on top.
xo,
