Cold Melon Soup With Prosciutto ©
This is an unexpectedly delicious and refreshing soup! So Italian and “““SO GOOD!
Easy and Impressive!
4-6 persons
Ingredients
2 Ripe Melons
2-3 lemon juice
2-3 tbs honey depending on sweetness of Melons
2 tsp thick Greek yogurt per serving
2 tbs freshly cut Mint
a dash of Vodka ( optional )
“Sweet” Paprika ( Not the hot kind )
A slice of prosciutto per person
Grissini
Parsley leaves to decorate and 1×1 cm cubes of melon
a little extra fresh mint added at the last minute
Method
1. Choose perfectly ripe melons. When you cut them open, they should smell sweet. If they are over-ripe, they will smell sharp. In this case discard…….. To help you choose your melon, smell it. It should have a perfume, be firm to the touch and may be just giving in, at the stork. If too soft, it will be over-ripe!
2. Wash and cut melon in half. Using a spoon, remove seeds and scoop out flesh and place in blender.Save a little to make melon cubes for decoration at the end. Remove up to the point that the melon is ripe and yellow. No further than 1 cm from the skin. Once the colour changes to green, it is no longer suitable for use.
3. Place melon in bowl, (if you wish at this point you can pass it through a sieve for an even smoother finish.) Add sieved lemon juice and honey. The final result should be sweet, so the honey you add, will depend on the ripeness of the melon. If consistency is too thick, dilute with a little water.
6. Add a splash of Vodka, and a pinch of salt and mint, mix well.
7. Using a soup ladle spoon the soup into the serving plates and place in fridge to thoroughly chill. 1 hour at least.
8. Five minutes before serving, wrap prosciutto around grissini. Place across soup bowl, decorate with parsley leaves and spoon in two tsp of thick yogurt, extra finely chopped mint and melon cubes. Dust with “Sweet Paprika” using a small sieve.
9. It is important to serve as cold as possible.
N.B Mint blackens soon after chopping, so for decoration, chop at last minute.
Be careful to try the paprika first, it is the “Sweet Paprika” you must use, NOT the hot kind!
Wash and cut melons in half.
Scoop out seeds and discard, then scoop out melon, as much as you think is ripe, no further…..
Place melon in blender, saving a little to make melon cubes for decoration.
Pulse melon until completely smooth 3-5 minutes.
Pass through sieve, if for special occasion to get an extra smooth finish.
Role up fresh mint leaves and chop finely. Add to soup, together with honey and lemon juice. Mix well.
Add two tsp of thick Greek yogurt. Role prosciutto around grissini and lay across
soup bowl.Decorate with parsley leaves, chopped mint and melon cubes. Dust generously with sweet paprika,
the kind that is NOT hot!
Final Result !
Cold Cucumber and Yogurt Soup ©
This is a wonderful creamy cooling soup, perfect for a hot summer evening !
Easy
4-6 Persons
Ingredients
5-6 cartons of thick greek yogurt ( Fage Total )
1 large cucumber peeled and grated
1 clove garlic ( Optional )
1 tsp salt for cucumber
salt and freshly ground black pepper for soup
1 tbs finely chopped fresh mint
Sprig of mint to garnish
Mint leaf ice cubes
Method
1. Choose nice fresh small mint leaves, place in ice tray fill with water and freeze.
2. Peel cucumber and grate on large holes of grater. Place in sieve together with a good teaspoon of salt, mix and allow to drain into a bowl.
3. Empty yogurt into large bowl, or straight into soup tureen and dilute with 200ml water. You want the soup to be the consistency of cream. Whisk with a balloon whisk.
4.Stir cucumber and push out more water by pressing with the spoon and add to yogurt. The cucumber then absorbs the liquid from the yogurt and thus the soup thickens more. If it needs a little more thinning you can add the cucumber water too.
5. Add finely chopped mint and a clove of garlic whole, which just gives the remotest hint of garlic. Remove it before serving! Otherwise you can also rub the soup tureen sides with the garlic, to give flavour.
6. Mix well and taste for salt. It definitely needs to be salty enough and check after chilling too as it may need more salt! i ended up putting 3-4 tsp salt, but I think the salt I use is not very strong.
7. Garnish with a sprig of mint and mint ice cubes just before serving. Serve the extra ice cubes along side.
Gather all your ingredients together.
Wash and peel cucumber.
Grate cucumber on large holes of grater into a sieve, which is standing over a bowl.
Add salt and mix well. Leave to drain.
Add yogurt to bowl or soup tureen.
Dilute with water.
Mix well with a balloon whisk.
Press out water with back of spoon.
Reserve cucumber juice to dilute soup.
Gather mint leaves together and chop finely.
Cut across and then…….
….then cut long ways.
Add mint.
Add cucumber to yogurt.
Add whole clove of garlic. Remove before serving!!!
Garnish with sprig of mint.
Add ice cubes or your pre-prepared mint ice cubes.
Using plain ice cubes or minted ones, see below.
Mint Leave ice cubes……
Final result decorated with the mint ice cubes.
Beautifully Cool on a hot summers evening……
Red Pepper Dip ©
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Another ‘Dip’ to go with a cold icy drink on a the hot summer evening !
Easy
4-6 persons
Ingredients
6 red peppers
4 tsp concentrate tomato puree
2-3 tsp vinegar
3 tsp sugar
salt
Parsley sprig for decoration
Method
1. Wash and dry red peppers.
2. Place them under grill and leave until well charred on all sides. ( Check frequently )
3. Place in bowl and seal with cling film. Leave to sweat for 5 mins.
4. Remove skin with sharp knife, cut open and remove seeds and stalk.
5. Place in saucepan together with rest of ingredients and cook briefly, stirring so it does not burn.
6. Blend briefly or mash with a fork.
7. Place in serving bowl and put in fridge to cool.
8. Taste, adjust seasoning and serve with crusty bread or grissini.
Grill peppers on all sides.
Remove peppers from under grill, place in bowl and cover tightly with cling-film. Leave to sweat, so that
the skins peel off easily.
Remove all the peel. Cut in half and remove seeds too.
Roughly cut up and place in saucepan along with the rest of the ingredients.
Blend briefly if you want a smoother finish.
Taste carefully, the end result should be sweet and sour.
Final result. Excellent with hot crusty bread or grissini.
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