3 chilled soups for stylish Summer entertaining

Try your hand in making one (or all) of my chilled soups this summer. They are perfect for a light and refreshing weeknight meal. Pour into glass jars or bottles and take along to a picnic or serve as cutesy starters in canapé spoons, little bottles, shot glasses or espresso cups at your next dinner party.

Garnish with Parmesan crumble, bacon shards (or crumbs), croutons, micro herbs or you could play around with flavoured olive oils – they just finish off certain soups and dishes so wonderfully. Not only does garnishing make the soups look amazing, but they also add little bursts of flavour and excitement. Remember with chilled soups, you will need to season them more to enhance the flavours.

Here are my 3 favourite chilled soups at the moment. They can also be served warm.

Pea soup with Parmesan crumble and bacon shards

I think sweet peas, Parmesan and bacon is quite simply a match made in heaven.

Serves: 6

500 g frozen baby peas
1 bunch of leeks, sliced
1 T (15 ml) butter
+- 1 ½ c (+- 375 ml) prepared chicken or vegetable stock
zest of 1 lemon (optional)
+- ½ c ( + – 125 ml) fresh cream
Freshly ground salt and pepper to taste
Topping:
6-8 rashers of streaky bacon
1 c (250 ml) finely grated parmesan

Pour boiling water over the peas and allow to stand for 2 minutes. Rinse immediately with ice cold water and set aside.
Heat the butter in a large frying pan and saute the leeks until softened. Add stock and simmer for 5 minutes.
Place the peas, leeks, stock, zest and cream into a food processor and blend until your desired consistency is reached (I personally like a bit of texture with a few bits of whole peas in the mix).
Season to taste.

Chill in the fridge or serve warm drizzled with parmesan infused oil and garnished with shards of bacon and parmesan crumble.

Toppings:
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Place rashers of bacon onto a roasting tray with a rack and roast for +- 20 minutes or until super crispy.
Pat Parmesan down onto a greased baking tray and pop into the oven for +- minutes until golden and crispy. Scrape off the baking tray and break into bits.

Beetroot and herb soup with goat’s cheese

Earthy sweet beetroot and fresh herby flavours paired with creamy and sharp chevin. Yum, just yum.

Serves: 6

500 g beetroot bulbs
1 bunch of leeks, chopped
2 c (500 ml) vegetable or chicken stock
handful of chives, roughly chopped
handful of mint leaves
+- ½ c (+ – 250 ml) cream or replace with Greek style yoghurt
Freshly ground salt and pepper to taste
Topping:
100 g chevin goat’s cheese
micro herbs

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil with the whole beetroots and cook until tender ( about 30-45 minutes depending on the size). Rinse beets under cold water and pull the skins off – this should come off easily. Cut the roots off and slice into quarters.

Heat the butter in a large frying pan and saute the leeks until softened. Add the stock and simmer for 5 minutes.
Place beets, leeks, stock, herbs and cream into a food processor and blend until smooth and silky. Season to taste. Add more prepared stock if too thick. Chill or serve warm with crumbed goat’s cheese and micro herbs.

Sweet potato Vichyssoise with crispy smoked snoek and apple

This soup is inspired by a brilliant amuse bouche we enjoyed at the Test Kitchen recently. It will never taste like Luke’s but a good effort, I think. I added sweet potato to my Vichyssoise to play nicely with the smoked snoek and tartness of the apple, but you still need some normal potato in this soup to balance out the sweetness. A must try.

Serves: 6

1 bunch of leeks, sliced
2 T (30 ml) butter
4 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 medium floury potatoes, peeled and cubed
+ – 3 c ( +- 750 ml) prepared vegetable or chicken stock
½  c (125 ml) cream
Freshly ground salt and pepper to taste
Nutmeg to taste
Topping:
300 g smoked snoek, bones removed and shredded
+- ¼ c (60 ml) cooking oil for shallow frying
1-2 granny smith apples, julienned
coriander and watercress micro herbs

In a large pot, heat the butter and saute the leeks until softened and fragrant. Add all the potatoes and saute for a few minutes, then add the stock, cover and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer gently until potatoes are tender. Add the cream and use a stick blender to blend until smooth and velvety. Season to taste.

Snoek topping: Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the bits of snoek until golden and crispy. Place to paper towel to absorb excess oil. Serve soup chilled or warm with crispy smoked snoek, julienned apple and micro herbs.

By Carey Boucher-Erasmus