Simplicity is the guide to eating tomatos. This cool summer soup makes the most of the flavors.
If I could sing, which I can’t, I would jump into a chorus of Hallelujah in praise of what can be found to eat at farmers markets and roadside stands. If I had Shakespeare’s vocabulary I’m sure I could truly express my feelings with elegant verbiage.
But alas, you will have to live with “Summer produce is just awesome.”
I do swell with pride, though, as I see what our farmers are bringing to us. No longer do you have to hunt for a German Johnson tomato, or a sun gold, or Cherokee Purple. The markets have ample supply.
And finally, bi-color corn, my second favorite summer treat, is in ample supply.
Summer really begins for me with my first dead ripe tomato sandwich, one that leaks through the mayonnaise, and turns the bread pink. For as long as they are around, that will be my lunch.
Messy and slippery, full of sweet acid for the tongue, I guess I’d have a tomato sandwich, made with a German Johnson as my last meal. OK, maybe I’d want a salad with fresh basil, Cherokee Purples and Chapel Hill Creamery’s mozzarella, drizzled with olive oil and cracked black pepper too. Yeah, that would be a grand send-off. And a bowl of cool tomato soup just to round things out.
Simplicity is the guide to summer eating, especially with a tomato. The more naked you keep a tomato, especially from heat, the more pleasure you will enjoy.
Three or four times a year, I write a column that I know will stir up trouble. Pimento cheese comes to mind, as does barbecue. So does writing about cool soups.
Soup is only supposed to be hot, never cold, some of your emails rant, but every year, I get more and more comments about how refreshing cool soups can be. So once again, I want you doubters out there to give this a try.
It truly can be a shock to sit down to a bowl of soup expecting heat and getting cold. The Andalusia region of Spain gave us the gift of gazpacho, an explosive taste of summer when made with tomatoes so ripe, just from the garden and the smoky, earthy tones of a pepper. Now that is a bowl of delight.
No, this is not normal gazpacho. Some watermelon for a sweet note and body. Everything else is just flavors that loudly scream summer to perfection and lift the tomato to vaulted heights.
Chef Kyle Wilkerson of Heirloom – a Poppa Paul Kitchen in Roxboro, suggests a kitchen hack that makes a huge difference. Capture all your juices from chopping, and that becomes the liquid base for the soup. No need for tomato juice, just the purest of flavor. Add some poached shrimp or lump crabmeat if you wish.
We’ve already had some days pushing 100 degrees. That’s perfect weather for a cool bowl of summer to chase the heat away.
A century ago, tomatoes were called “love apples.” Then, tomatoes were given to another as a token of affection. Treat them right and the affection will be centered on you.
Fred Thompson is a Raleigh cookbook author and publisher of Edible Piedmont magazine. Reach him at fdtfx1@earthlink.net.
Serving suggestions
Serve with: Not much more than a salad. I also use this soup as a sauce under grilled seafood
To Drink: a Grüner Veltliner
Tomato Watermelon Gazpacho
3 pounds dead ripe tomatoes (a mixture of heirlooms is recommended)
1/2 of a personal-sized seedless watermelon, rind removed
3 mini cucumbers or 3 small Kirby, peeled and seeded
2 to 3 shishisto peppers, blistered, veins and seeds removed, finely chopped
1/2 medium red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro, optional
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, or to taste
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, optional for garnish
Shrimp or crabmeat if desired
Set your cutting board inside of a rimmed sheet pan. You want to catch all the juices from your chopping.
Core the tomatoes. Cut into small dice. Do the same with the watermelon and cucumbers.
To blister the peppers, add to a dry pan over medium heat and cook, turning, until the skin is slightly blistered. Remove and rinse off the blistered skin. If you want heat, leave the seeds and ribs intact as you finely chop the pepper.
Add all the chopped stuff to a large bowl along with all the juices in the sheet pan.
Add lime juice, cilantro if using, red wine vinegar and olive oil. Stir in the salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning. Adjust if needed. Cover and refrigerate overnight. This soup just gets better day after day.
Garnish with cilantro if you wish, lemon juice, and top with the seafood if using.
Yield: 6 servings
This story was originally published July 26, 2018 at 4:37 PM.