Reader Recipe: Cool down the summer in a soup bowl
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Your support makes all the difference.FOR OUR series of cool summer dishes, I received two almost identical versions of a garden vegetable soup, from Carla Phillips, a chef at the Moorings restaurant in Wells-next- the-Sea, Norfolk, and Anne Ward of Glenrothres, Fife. Both will receive a bottle of Sancerre Rose Les Romaines 1992 Vacheron, a Loire wine made from pinot noir grapes and purchased in Britain from Reid Wines of Hallatrow, near Bristol.
Ms Ward found her version in a recipe book from 1975 called The Vegetarian Epicure, Mrs Phillips found hers in the 1977 Moosewood Cookbook. Both women have served it to loved ones they were nursing, and commend it as particularly restorative.
The key is the freshness of its ingredients - it is practically summer in a bowl. For tomatoes, Mrs Phillips calls for passata, Ms Ward for tomato juice. Given the season, I have replaced both with fresh tomatoes. Ms Ward includes eggs (I presume hardboiled); these can be employed either as an elegant garnish or blended in with the other ingredients to add bulk and nourishment.
Though the dish is similar to a tomato gazpacho, it contains no bread. Its name is cascadilla, which translates from Spanish loosely as 'little waterfall'. It is delicious.
Cascadilla
Serves 8
Ingredients: 1 cucumber, washed and cubed
2 green peppers, cored and seeded
2 large spring onions
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1tsp sea salt
2tsp honey
2tbs finely chopped fresh dill
freshly ground black pepper
dash of Tabasco
4lb (1.8kg) ripe tomatoes
1lb (450g) Greek-style yoghurt
2tbs chopped parsley
Preparation: Trim spring onions, reserving the green ends. Blanch, skin and seed tomatoes. Process all ingredients, except the onion greens and the parsley, in suitable batches in a blender, then combine in a tureen or bowl. Check seasoning. Chill. Garnish with chopped parsley and greens of the spring onions.
NEXT week, the last of our cool summer dishes. New recipes are sought for the following category: peppers (bell, chilli, hot or sweet, raw, pickled or powdered). Please send them, stating any source, to: Emily Green, Recipe, Weekend, the Independent, 40 City Road, London EC1Y 2DB. The prize will be a bottle of Wyken Auxerrois, an very well-balanced English white wine, made in an Alsatian style.
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