Meatless Monday Recipes: Chilled Soups & Gazpachos | Beat the Heat and Enjoy Summer Produce at its Finest

As we head into the last half or August, I woke up thinking about delicious recipes based on raw vegetables (it’s true). Wanting to get while the getting is still oh-so-good, gazpacho and chilled soups came to mind as a great way to increase the amount of fresh veggies in my life, while enjoying produce at its best. A quick search netted me 7 recipes I can’t wait to try, and I thought you might feel the same. These soups are fantastic for mamas-to-be and everyone else for a number of reasons. Here are a few:

• Tons of vitamins, minerals and enzymes to be had here
• All are super (souper?) hydrating
• These recipes require no or minimal cooking which 1) is energy-saving, 2) keeps the kitchen cool, 3) maintains more nutrition than when foods are processed with heat
• Happy Meatless Monday! All of these recipes are meat free and most are dairy optional
• Within these recipes are some veggies known for particular benefits. To mention just a few: beets are considered blood building and liver cleansing, cucumbers are great for the skin, garlic is good for the heart, avocado is one of the healthiest (and most delicious) fats around, and kefir is full of good bacteria for your gut and immune system.

Good for you and delicious? It really doesn’t get any better than that. I hope you’ll try some of these recipes and let us know what you think. I’m also pleased to introduce you to these great food bloggers–enjoy!

*One quick and important note: I feel that where dairy is concerned it is awfully important to get full-fat, organic, rBHT free, antibiotic-free, quality products. I do believe that for some people dairy can be a healing food, but only when it is used in its whole food form, free of toxins. If you choose not to consume dairy at all, I applaud that as well. Recipes number 2, 5, and 6 are vegan. Recipe number 1 is vegan simply by eliminating 1/2 tablespoon of sour cream.

#1 Dovetail’s White Gazpacho, from NY Magazine Grub Street, newyork.grubstreet.com

¼ cup whites of leeks, sliced thin and washed
3 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed
10 green grapes, washed
¼ cup blanched almond slivers
1 ½ tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 cups cucumbers
½ cup English cucumbers, peeled and juiced
½ tablespoon sour cream
¼ cup good quality olive oil
2 cups cold water
1 tablespoon salt

• Cook leeks in a medium-size sauté pan over medium-low heat until translucent and tender, then chill in refrigerator.
• Combine all ingredients in a blender and purée until smooth.
• Season with salt, adjusting amount as needed.
• Pass through a fine-mesh sieve or chinois.
• Serve very cold.

#2 Cucumber Avocado Gazpacho, from Elana’s Pantry, elanaspantry.com

1 small avocado
1 cucumber, peeled and de-seeded, plus additional cuke for garnish
1 tablespoon onion, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon chili powder
1 cup water
smoked paprika, to garnish

• Throw avocado, cucumber, onion, oil, lemon juice, vinegar and water in Vita-Mix (or other high speed blender)
• Puree on high speed until smooth
• Blend in salt and chili powder
• Serve, garnishing with extra cucumber cubes and smoked paprika if desired

#3 Chilled Beet Soup with Kefir and Chives, from Crumpets and Cakes, crumpetsandcakes.blogspot.com

1 bunch baby beets with stems and leaves, peeled and finely chopped
3 large radishes or about 6 small, grated
kefir, I used LifeWay organic
bunch of chives or about 6 green shallots, finely chopped
fresh dill about 6-8 sprigs, chopped
english cucumber, grated
vegetable stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste, minced garlic (optional)

• Place chopped beets with their stems and leafs in a large pot, add only enough stock to barley cover them and boil until tender, about 20 min, add salt to taste. Set aside and cool, reserve the stock.
• In the mean time, in a large bowl mix all vegetables, finely chopped or grated with dill and chives (or green shallots), add cooled beets and stock. In a final step add kefir, more or less 12 oz, depending on what color and consistency you would like to achieve. There is no hard rules to follow in a preparation of this recipe. I often eyeball amounts and alternate ingredients, always successfully. Add salt and ground pepper to taste.
• Serve chilled on a hot spring or summer day.

#4 Chlodnik (Chilled Buttermilk-Beet Soup), from Simmer Down! (A Food Lover’s Blog), mllenoelle.wordpress.com

6 cups buttermilk
1 lb beets + 1 cup beet cooking liquid (see recipe)
1 cup seeded & diced cucumber (½ a large English cucumber will yield this)
1 cup very thinly sliced radishes (3-5 radishes depending on size)
2-3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 Tbs finely chopped fresh dill
1½ tsp sugar
1½ tsp salt
½ cup sauerkraut + ¼ cup sauerkraut juice
optional: ½ cup sour cream
optional: hard-boiled egg quarters for garnish

• Peel the beets with a vegetable peeler and cut into matchsticks. Raw beets don’t stain much, so you don’t really need to worry about wearing gloves for this. Place the beets in a small saucepan and add water just to cover. Cover and cook at a very low simmer until tender (do not allow to boil or they will lose their bright color).  Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid.
• If using the sour cream, place it in a large bowl. Whisk in buttermilk a little at a time until the mixture is liquid and no lumps remain. Add all remaining ingredients and stir well. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.
• Refrigerate until well-chilled.
• Ladle into bowls and garnish with a little sprig of dill and a couple hard-boiled egg quarters, if desired. Pumpernickel or rye bread is good on the side.

Notes:

Many of the recipes I found called for some sour cream, which made for a thicker soup than what I had remembered. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but if you have a good quality thick buttermilk, you may not need it. If you’re using sauerkraut, use a salt-fermented sauerkraut (the Bubbies brand is awesome) rather than one in vinegar.

This recipe makes a fairly large amount of soup (about 10 cups). If you want to make a smaller batch, just use 1 quart buttermilk (4 cups), and reduce the quantities of the remaining ingredients by about 1/3. As with many soups, precision is not of the essence.

#5 Live Mango Gazpacho from Renfield & Murray’s 30-Minute Vegan, via Chow Vegan, chowvegan.com

3 cups mango, cut into small cubes (about 3 medium-size mangoes)
2 cups tomato, chopped small (about 3 medium-size tomatoes)
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped small
1 teaspoon seeded and minced jalapeño (optional)
1 garlic clove, pressed or minced
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon chile powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1 tablespoon minced fresh Italian parsley

• Mix all of the ingredients together well in a large bowl.
• Transfer 2 cups of the mixture to a blender and blend on high speed for 20 seconds and return to the bowl. Mix, and if desired, chill for 30 minutes, otherwise serve immediately.

Excerpted from the book The 30-Minute Vegan by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray, published by Da Capo Lifelong, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2009. www.dacapopresscookbooks.com

#6 Gazpacho Andaluz, from Crumpets and Cakes, crumpetsandcakes.blogspot.com

2 thick slices of day-old country bread, crusts removed and cut into small pieces
1.5 to 2lb ripest, sweetest, most flavorful tomatoes, quartered
2 Tbsp aged sherry vinegar
½ cup fragrant extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup bottled spring water,
2 small garlic cloves, minced
pinch of ground cumin and pinch of cayenne pepper(optional)
sea salt
1 firm medium-sized cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1 small red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
1 small green bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
½ small red or Spanish onion, peeled and chopped

To garnish: Save small amounts of bell peppers, onions and tomatoes.

• Place the bread in a large bowl, drizzle with some olive oil and squeeze out juice from one tomato over it. Add 1tsp of sherry vinegar and mix it well with your fingers. Set aside, for at least 10 minutes.
• Transfer the bread mixture to a food processor and add minced garlic, cumin, cayenne pepper(if using) and salt. Process until very smooth.
• Add half of the tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, onions, generous pinch of salt and ¼ cup of olive oil; process until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside. Repeat with another batch of vegetables and olive oil. You can also pass the soup through a sieve, but I don’t find it necessary.
• Add some of the remaining sherry vinegar, salt and spring water. Taste and adjust amounts of each to your liking.
• Chill for at least 3 hours.
• To serve, divide between chilled soup bowls, prepare small dishes of chopped peppers, onions and tomatoes for garnish. Add side dish of olive oil for drizzling and some good crusty bread.

#7 Gazpacho from Ina Garten’s The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, via Ezra Pound Cake, ezrapoundcake.com

1 hothouse cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled
2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
4 plum tomatoes
1 red onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
23 ounces tomato juice (3 cups)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

• Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not overprocess!
• After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. The longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop.