This is the best time of the year for people who cook. Also, for people who eat.
The fields are laden with produce. Vegetables and fruit hang heavy from every leafy branch. Goodness is fresh and abundant.
And with the sun blazing down on us like a broiler, the key is to enjoy all of this wonderful produce and cool down at the same time.
That is where chilled summertime soups come into play. Refreshing and crisp and just a little unusual, cold soups make the best of what summer has to offer.
To get some relief from the heat, I made five summertime soups. Each took full advantage of the harvest: avocados from the tree, carrots from the ground, tomatoes from the ...
OK, to be honest, the tomatoes came from a can in the form of tomato juice. I got so caught up in the idea of chilled soups that I forgot I was supposed to be using fresh ingredients. But the can was newly purchased, so that's something. Besides, it has onion in it, and the onion was fresh.
Though it was less straight-off-the-vine than it might have been, the tomato soup _ or actually Lightly Spiced Tomato Soup _ was delightful.
The tomato juice serves as the base, its flavor mellowed and deepened with sauteed onions and vegetable stock (or water, but use the vegetable stock if you have it). Still, it is the light spices that make the soup come alive.
With a nod to the Indian subcontinent, the soup is embellished with cumin, turmeric, cardamom and cloves, plus a pinch of cayenne for extra heat.
And if that much heat is too hot for you, especially in the summer, you can cool it off with a spoonful or two of tangy yogurt.
As easy as the tomato soup was to make, I next made one that was even faster and easier. Curried Avocado Soup does not even need to be cooked at all, yet it boasts a big flavor.
All it needs are avocados blended with vegetable stock, with curry powder, heavy cream and salt and pepper mixed in. Chill it and you have a surprisingly good dish.
Surprising, because who would have thought avocados and curry powder would go well together? It's like hot and cold, night and day, black and white. That's why you need the cream. It melds, it blends, it softens and tempers and it makes everything better.
If the Curried Avocado Soup was the easiest to make, Chilled Stilton and Pear Soup was the most involved. Of course, the results were also the creamiest, richest and, if you are looking to impress your guests, the most impressive.
Pears and Stilton cheese are one of those all-time classic combinations. The smooth and rich _ yet pungent _ blue cheese harmonizes brilliantly with the mild sweetness and the unique, softly granular texture of a pear.
But how do you transport that heavenly pairing to a soup?
You cheat a little, is how.
You begin with a base of chicken stock cooked with celery, onion and leeks in it, which you then thicken and enrich with a roux. Next, you dump in a whole lot of grated Monterey Jack cheese and then stir in some half-and-half.
It tastes even better than it sounds, and we haven't even gotten to the pears and Stilton yet. That's because you use them almost as a garnish, diced into small pieces and floating on top.
Next up was a Cold Carrot-Coconut Soup. The coconut part, fortunately, comes from coconut milk. The other flavors come from ginger and Madras curry powder _ two flavors that happen to enhance the taste of both carrots and coconut milk.
The soup is rich and powerfully flavored, so I would recommend it only as appetizer. The only problem is that it is so delicious that it is likely to overshadow anything else that you would serve.
For my last summertime dish, I made a soup that could be served either as a dessert (it comes from Finland, and that is how they like it there) or a first course.
Cherry Soup (you'll forgive me if I don't call it Kirsikkakeitto) is lightly sweet and absolutely gorgeous. It gets its entrancing red color from the cherries _ lots of cherries that you have to pit yourself _ that are simmered in water with a cinnamon stick.
Lemon juice brightens the flavor, sugar or honey sweetens it and white wine or cherry liqueur brings an intriguing element that you might not be able to identify but you will know it is there.
I served mine as an appetizer with yogurt in it. If you serve it for dessert, you could always instead add heavy cream or even whipped cream.
Live it up. This summertime bounty won't be with us forever.
