 THE SPLENDID TABLE’S HOW TO EAT SUPPER - PRINT EXTRA
Fans of American Public Media’s national radio show The Splendid Table and faithful readers of the syndicated newspaper column of the same name can’t get enough of host and award-wining author Lynne Rossetto Kasper’s musings on food. Lucky for them, Kasper has teamed with James Beard-award-winning Splendid Table producer Sally Swift to write The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper.
Today’s Diet & Nutrition’s Uncommon Taste department featured a recipe for Thai Cantaloupe Salad with Chile from this excellent new book. For another taste of The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper, try this refreshing iced soup based on that recipe.
Iced Cantaloupe Soup with Jalapeño and Basil
Serves 2 to 4 as a first course
10 minutes prep time: no stove time
Make this a day ahead and keep it chilled
What’s not to love when with an effortless twist, a dish becomes something brand-new? Puree the Thai Cantaloupe Salad with Chile with Chile with an adjustment or two, and you will have a soup that is heaven in a bowl at the end of a steamy summer commute home.
Icy and gorgeously orange, this puree is flecked with the bright green of fresh-grated lime zest. When you get down to eating the soup, you pile in extras of red onion, green chile, and fresh basil. It’s an uncommon mix that always delights.
Track down a truly sweet cantaloupe for the soup. The commitment will pay back tenfold. A melon’s fragrance tells you everything you need to know: if it smells sweet, almost perfumed, you have a good one. If a melon has no scent, it will have no flavor.
1 2-1/2-pound intensely sweet-smelling ripe cantaloupe
2 cups ice cubes
Generous pinch of salt
4 or 5 grinds of black pepper
2 tablespoons sugar
Juice of 2 large limes (about ½ cup)
Grated zest of 2 large limes (about ½ cup)
Grated zest of ½ large lime
FINISH
1 or 2 jalapeños, seeded and cut into fine dice
10 to 12 fresh basil leaves, coarse chopped
½ medium red onion, cut into 1/8-inch dice
1. Cut the melon into quarters. Scoop out its seeds and trim away the rind. Slice it into chunks and put them into a food processor. Add the ice, salt, pepper, sugar, and lime juice, and puree. Stir in the grated zest.
2. Place the chiles, basil, and onion in separate small serving bowls. Pour the puree into individual soup bowls or into a pitcher for further chilling.
3. To serve, pour the soup into bowls and pass the condiments. The basil and jalapeño are the essential finishes for the soup, while the onion is an attractive option.
Reprinted with permission from The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories & Opinions from Public Radio’s Awards-Winning Show © 2008, published by Clarkson Potter Publishers (www.clarksonpotter.com)
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