Cold Tomato-Almond Soup with Creamy Basil-Caper Sauce & Hardboiled Egg for Souper (Soup, Salad, & Sammie) Sundays

It's been a humid few days so I was in the mood for a cold soup this week. I wanted a Spanish gazpacho-style soup, thickened with bread and almonds (similar to this Cordoban Gazpacho). Cool, creamy and slightly smoky. 

I have been slightly obsessed with Old Bay Seasoning lately (the low-salt one)--adding it to hummus (recipe coming soon), mixing it into my scrambled eggs and tuna salad--I like its zestiness and the combination of flavors. I thought it would be a great addition to this soup, with a bump-up of smoked paprika. Another recent obsession, Creamy-Basil-Caper Sauce adapted from a Nigel Slater recipe. I loved it over pasta and knew it would be a great piquant contrast to the sweet and smoky soup and chopped hard-boiled egg.

Cold Tomato-Almond Soup with Creamy Basil-Caper Sauce 
Soup by Deb, Kahakai Kitchen, Sauce Adapted from Nigel Slater
(Serves 4)

2 1/2 lbs Roma tomatoes
1/2 medium sweet onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp tomato paste (sundried tomato paste if possible)
2 slices bread, torn into small pieces
1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds
2 Tbsp sherry vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
about 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp low-sodium Old Bay Seasoning
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
salt and black pepper to taste
To Serve: 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped and Creamy Basil-Caper Sauce (recipe below)

Using a paring knife, make a shallow "X" on the bottom of each tomato. Blanch tomatoes for 30-40 seconds in boiling water. Transfer to a bowl of ice water to cool. Once cooled, drain, peel and chop tomatoes. 

Place tomatoes in a blender jar with sweet onion, garlic, tomato paste, bread, toasted almonds, vinegar, oil and spices. Puree until smooth. Season with salt and taste. Refrigerate until very well chilled, at least 2 hours. 

Serve soup cold, topped with Creamy Basil-Caper Sauce and chopped hard-boiled egg

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Creamy Basil-Caper Sauce 
Adapted from Notes From the Larder by Nigel Slater
(Makes about 1 cup)

Basil leaves, a good couple of handfuls, a clove of garlic, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a couple of tablespoons of white wine vinegar, a tablespoon of capers, pureed with enough olive oil to make a thick pouring consistency. Stir in 2 or 3 tablespoons of cream and some salt and pepper.
 

Notes/Results: Not everyone is a gazpacho or cold soup fan but if you aren't or haven't tried cold soups before, this is the way to go. The bread and almonds add a creaminess that soften the edges of gazpacho and make it rich and indulgent. So good. The smoky-sweet combination is wonderful on its own but even better with the toppings. It takes just minutes to make and the only cooking is blanching the tomatoes. Serve this soup as a starter for an outdoor dinner on a warm night, maybe with some crackers and Spanish Manchego cheese. This totally hit the spot--I will make it again.  

Let's take a look in the Souper Sundays kitchen and see who is here.

 
Foodycat is here with a delectable Fried Prawn Salad and says, "I haven't deep-fried anything in ages, so I thought topping a big meal-in-a-bowl salad with marinated fried prawns would be a good Friday night treat. And it was. There are a couple of new-to-me features about this salad - one ingredient and one technique. The ingredient is this avocado oil flavoured with chipotle, which mexgrocer.co.uk recently sent me to try. It has a lovely buttery flavour with a good chipotle warm smokiness. Apparently you can cook with it, but so far I have just used it in salad dressings. And the technique is this - you marinate the prawns in lemon and bicarbonate of soda before dredging in flour and frying. It works extremely well although I am not entirely sure why..."

Pam of Sidewalk Shoes shares this summer-ready Cod with Grapefruit Salad and says, "Am I the only one with about 6 or 7 mason jars of various homemade dressings on the bottom shelf of their fridge?  Most were made for a recipe and I put the leftovers in my fridge, planning on using them later on something else.  Well, I wasn’t going to let this wonderful dressing with it’s earthy hints from the sesame oil and sweet heat from the ginger go to waste! I remembered reading about a cod and grapefruit salad from Eating Well.  That combination sounded like the perfect backdrop for the ginger dressing – and it was!"  

Thanks to Foodycat and Pam for joining in this week. If you have a soup, salad, or sandwich that you would like to share, just click on the Souper Sundays logo on my side bar for all of the details.

Have a happy, healthy week!