Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Cucumber Melon Heaven / Soul of a Soupie


Ladies and gentlemen, ladles down! The Soupie Contest is now closed for 2009. I would just like to thank everyone for their enthusiastic responses. I am now proud to announce the winner of our first ever Soupie Contest. And that is (drum roll) ... Mrs. Anna Jane Sabbagh!

(Insert audience applause here.)

I was excited to interview A.J. about her soup philosophies. Below is a bit of the soul of a Soupie.

Anna Jane, known to many as A.J., was named after her paternal Grandmother. She began cooking when she moved into her own apartment when she was 25 because, as she put it, "I was hungry."

A.J. especially likes to cook holiday meals or any sort of dish that's traditional and with a history. A.J. believes soup is particularly special because "you can be creative without being too smart or knowledgeable." Amen, sister.

However, A.J. admits that these days she doesn't enjoy cooking as much. "After these many years, I have run out of ideas." (Have you ever made Cucumber Melon Heaven, A.J.? I think I just gave you a new idea!) She also explains that her husband, Jim, is less enthusiastic about eating these days. So she says, "Cooking is less rewarding."

"Cooking is most enjoyable when you have an appreciative audience," A.J. believes. I agree. I just made a casserole and there is nobody here to eat it. I don't think food fills you in the same way when you aren't able to share it. This is actually something I'd like to think about further. And I would be interested to hear your comments on why community is so tightly woven in the art of Cooking.

A.J. finishes up her interview by gushing over her Soupie award. (Do you blame her?) "I must say this is one of the highlights of my life, or at least my summer. Just in case there will be a red carpet event, I am going to practice The Walk."

Thank you, A.J.! A.J. is turning 74 on Thursday, so we'll consider this her birthday blog post. Happy Birthday! I hope you like melons and cucumbers!

cucumber melon soup
For this soup, you only need a big bowl, a chopping block and a blender!
Obviously, all of these ingredients won't fit into the blender at once, so as you chop and add (and it gets full), empty half of the blender into the bowl, leaving enough liquid to keep it easy to liquefy everything else.


Defrost a small bag of frozen sweet corn, drain and set aside
Blend about half of a container of plain yogurt with 3/4 cups of creme fraiche (we used lemon flavored and it was lovely... try not to eat it all before you blend)
And 3 chopped garlic cloves in a blender until the garlic is nice and smooth
Add in two large cucumbers, roughly chopped, one very ripe medium to large sized honeydew melon (roughly chopped) and your defrosted sweet corn

Hint: Honeydew is ripe when it sounds hollow.

Once everything is blended and in the bowl, season with salt and pepper
In a separate bowl, mix about 8 red radishes,roughly chopped, a small handful of torn fresh mint,
some snipped chives and the juice of one lime
Serve the soup with a dollop of yogurt and the radish on top!

2 comments:

  1. I'm thrilled to see a chill soup finally featured on your blog...especially with radishes. Although I've been enjoying these these sweet-tart peppery bulbs more than ever this year from my farmer's market, I never thought to put them in a soup.

    A tip for Monday's soup: When you start turning a profit from this blog, I highly recommend investing in an immersion blender. Its my favorite kitchen-gaget(soup, salsa, etc) and will spare you the waste/time of transfering between containers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. for some reason I always assumed those are really messy... is that true or is that just me with any kitchen tools? maybe now I have an item for my christmas list!

    ReplyDelete