Cold melon soup with Ganda ham

For ➍
1 ripe cantaloupe melon 1 kg
juice of 1 orange
juice of a ¼ lemon
½ ts sea salt
½ ts pink pepper*
sugar**
4 slices Ganda ham, cut in ribbons***

Peel the melon. Purée the meat. Mix juices through it. Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste.
Refrigerate for a few h.
Spoon ¼ of the ham through the soup. Serve and decorate with the rest of the ham.
(Add a few ice cubes).

*Or use shichimi togarashi mix
**optional
***Use Parma ham instead.

Dry-cured Ganda ham is made near Ghent and is considered to be as tasteful as the Parma.

Iced zucchini velouté

For ➍
250 g natural yoghurt
10 large mint leaves
2 medium zucchini (600g), diced, unpeeled
pepper & salt
4 tbs pine nuts
2 cubes low-fat broth

Bring 50 cl of water to a boil with the stock. Add the zucchini and cook for 8 m.
Grill the pine nuts in a non-stick pan without fat.
Take the cooked courgettes from heat, add 25 cl of cold water, pour into a bowl and let cool completely.
Add the yogurt and mint leaves to the cold soup. Mix until smooth and put in the refrigerator.
If necessary, add some ice cubes in the soup when serving.

Gazpacho of lettuce, garden peas & chives

For ➍
2 onions
25 g butter
1 lettuce
450 g green peas (frozen)
75 cl water
1½ chicken stock tablet
25 g chives

Chop the onions. Heat the butter in a large pan and fry the onion 3 m. Remove the leaves of lettuce. Wash and dry them and cut into strips.
Put the peas, lettuce, water and stock cubes in the soup pot. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 m on low heat.
Keep some chives for garnish. Cut the rest of the chives.
Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the chives and puree in a blender. Season with pepper and salt.
Let the soup cool for 30 m to room temperature. Cover and put in the refrigerator for 3 h.
Garnish the soup with the  chives and serve with sliced cereals bread.

Iced tomato soup with melon balls

For ➍
2 melons
8 vine tomatoes
2 sprigs of basil
2 cloves of garlic
1 ts tomato paste
salt & freshly ground pepper

Cut the melon in half and remove all seeds and seeds.
Remove with a melon spoon the pulp and put the balls in a bowl. Chop the basil finely and add ½ to the melon. Stir and put at least 2 h in the refrigerator.
Peel the tomatoes and remove the seeds. Cut the flesh into large pieces. Peel the garlic cloves and crush them with the flat side of a knife.
Mix the tomatoes with the garlic and the rest of the basil. Add the tomato paste and bring to taste with salt and pepper.
Pour this preparation into a deep dish. Put in another dish of ice cubes, put the dish with the soup on it and put everything in the refrigerator until just before serving.
Take melon balls from the refrigerator. Arrange the balls on a deep plate. Pour the chilled tomato soup over it. Serve immediately.

Kholodnik (Russian cold beetroot soup)

For ➍
220 g beetroots
200 g cucumbers
20 g spring onions
70 cl kefir
2 tbs parsley leaves
1 tbs fennel leaves
4 eggs
salt & ground black pepper

Bake beetroot in the oven on 180°C for about 1 h. Leave the skin on, it is done when the fork comes in easily.
Hard boil eggs. Finely chop spring onions, parsley and fennel. Peel the cucumber and cut it into tiny cubes. Peel beetroot and pure it in a blender with some kefir, add the rest of the kefir and ingredients.
Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve cold.

Summer pea soup

For ➍
250 g shelled peas (frozen)
150 g fennel, cut into small pieces, fronds apart
1 small onion, peeled & chopped
1 potato, cubed
50 cl (chicken) stock
1 tbs pastis
2 tbs sour cream
bunch of mint
freshly ground pepper
salt

Fry the onion and potato in a large soup pot. Add the peas and diced fennel.
Add the broth. Simmer for 15 m over medium heat.
Add the mint leaves. Process the soup with a mixer or robot until very fine. Rub the puree through a sieve.
Let the soup cool in the refrigerator.
Before serving, mix the pastis and sour cream into the soup. Garnish with fennel fronds.

Chilled pea soup with tarragon & radishes

For ➍
1 tbs unsalted butter
1 large shallot, finely chopped
30 cl (chicken) stock
salt & freshly ground black pepper
600 g shelled peas [unfrozen]
5 cl crème fraiche
1 ts finely grated lemon zest
fresh tarragon
sliced radishes

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and sauté until translucent without browning, 3-4 m. Add the broth, ½ ts salt and ½ ts black pepper and simmer 2 m. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
While the stock is cooling, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the peas and cook until peas are tender, 2 to 3 m. Drain and rinse under cold water or shock in ice water to prevent further cooking.
Combine the half of the cooled stock and peas in the bowl of a food processor. Process until very smooth. Add additional stock a little at a time and process to achieve desired consistency. (The soup should be a little thick and not too runny).
Transfer to a bowl, and taste for salt and pepper. Whisk the crème fraiche and lemon zest together in a small bowl. Gently stir into the peas, leaving light traces of the cream visible. 
Carefully divide among 4 serving bowls. Garnish with snipped or whole tarragon leaves and sliced radishes.

Salmorejo (Cordoba cold soup)

For ➍
500 g ripe tomatoes, skinned & chopped*
1-2 clove(s) garlic, chopped
50 g (4 slices) of dry white bread without crusts
4-6 tbs olive oil
2 tbs (sherry) vinegar
salt*
2 hard boiled eggs, shelled and chopped

Crumble the bread in some water. When soft, squeeze until the water is gone. Put the tomatoes and the garlic in a blender. Liquidize until smooth by turning on and off the blender at low speed. Add a dash of vinegar and a pinch of salt. Add some bread and oil and mix again. Continue until all the bread is used. Chill for a few hours.
Serve with the chopped egg. (Add some chopped Serrano ham if wanted.)

*Use 0.5 l tomato juice instead. Omit the salt, if the juice is salted.

Salmorejo is the Cordoba variation of a classic Spanish cold soup, gazpacho.
Read more gazpacho recipes: gazpacho, white gazpacho , ajo blanco.
Read more cold soup recipes.

Ajo blanco (Malaga cold soup)

For ➍
200 g almonds
75 cl iced water
4-5 slices stale white bread with crusts removed, soaked in water
4 garlic cloves
1 ts salt
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
3 tbs sherry vinegar
ground white pepper
grapes

Drop the almonds in cooking water, leave for a few m. Dry them and rub off their skin.

In a food processor, grind almonds as finely as possible. Add 10 cl of the water, then squeeze the bread and add to the almonds with the garlic.

With the machine running, add more water, the olive oil and the vinegar.

Chill for 5 h, and serve with halved, seedless white grapes.

A favourite of Malaga, this dish seems to date back to the Moorish times in Spain. It is related to gazpacho and the modern, less garlicky, versions of white gazpacho.

Cold cucumber soup with crab

For ➍
1 l warm chicken broth
½ leek, sliced
1 onion, peeled & diced
1 cucumber, sliced
1 can crab, dried
10 leaves of mint, finely cut
1 tbs olive oil
salt & pepper
1 ts soda

Heat oil. Add vegetables. Sauté for 5 m.
Add broth and bring to boil.
Add pepper, salt and soda.
Mix and push trough a sieve. Let it cool.
Put a tbs of crab in a deep plate.
Pour the soup around. Garnish with mint.
Or: ladle the soup in a small bowl. Shred the mint over it. Carefully add a tbs of crab.

Read more crab & cucumber recipes: crab & cucumber salad.
Read more cucumber soup recipes: Arabian cucumber soup, Spanish white gazpacho.

Jalik (Arabian cucumber soup)

For ➋
2 cucumbers
½ ts salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbs lemon juice
20 cl yogurt
½ tbs finely chopped dill
10 cl sesame or olive oil
2 ts chopped mint

Peel the cucumbers, cut in quarters lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, then slice thin. Sprinkle with the salt and let stand for 15 m. Drain well.

Stir together the garlic, lemon juice, yogurt, and dill. Mix with the cucumbers.

Pour the oil over the top and sprinkle with the mint.

This is adapted from the Arabian jalik soup. Similar recipes are known all over the Middle East and as 'tzaziki' in Greece. It is called 'maast-o-khiar' in Iran.
Read the maast-o-khiar recipe, or make a version with other amounts of the ingredients above: drain the yogurt in cheese-cloth in a colander for 1 h, mix with some mint, use 1 cucumber, to make a dip sauce for pita bread or serve it as a cold salad, on its own or with cold lamb chops.
Read more cucumber soup recipes: cold cucumber soup with crab, Spanish white gazpacho.

Gazpacho (Spanish cold soup)

For ➏
soup:
1 kg ripe tomatoes, skinned & chopped*
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded & chopped
1 small cucumber, peeled & chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbs olive oil
½ tbs vinegar
salt* & pepper
garnish:
1 small tomato
1½ cucumber, peeled
½ red or green bell pepper
½ small onion
1 hard boiled egg, shelled & chopped**

Liquidize all the soup vegetables, one after another, in the blender until smooth by turning on and off the blender at low speed. Add oil, a dash of vinegar and a pinch of salt and whizz quickly. If very thick, add some cold water, then chill well before serving. (A day's rest in the fridge will make it taste better.)

Chop all the remaining ingredients.

Serve in individual bowls with the gazpacho.

*Use 1 l of tomato juice instead. Omit the salt, if the juice is salted.
**Optional.

Read more gazpacho recipes: white gazpacho, Cordoba salmorejo, Malaga ajo blanco.
Read more cold soup recipes: hit label.

Lettuce soup

For ➍
1 onion, minced
1 tbs olive oil
1 l water
2 chicken stock cubes
1 bag of mixed lettuce, shredded
4 small tomatoes, peeled, seeded & cut
8 sprigs chives

Heat oil in soup pot. Add onion and fry for 4 m.

Add water. Bring to boil. Dissolve cubes. Cook for 4 m.

Add lettuce (spare a few leaves for decoration) and tomatoes.

Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 m.

Mix the soup. Reheat if necessary to reduce volume.

Decorate with sprigs of chives.

Serve with freshly toasted bread with creamy cheese.

*Can be served cold.

Watermelon soup

For ➍
1 medium seedless watermelon, rind discarded, cut into chunks
2 tbs ginger, grated
1 tbs freshly grated lime juice
2 tbs white wine*
1 tbs orange blossom water*

Purée all ingredients in food processor. Strain through a fine mesh strainer. Discard solids. Put in the refrigerator for at least 2 h.

Add a few ice-cubes with mint**. Serve with a tbs of cooked or tinned crab meat or tiger prawn meat.

*Optional.
**Bring 2 dl water to a boil. Add a small bunch of shredded mint. Boil for 1 m. Discard mint and purée it. When water has cooled down, add the mint purée and freeze into ice-cubes.

White gazpacho (Spanish cold soup)

For ➍
2 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded & roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
300 cl chicken or vegetable stock
200 cl sour cream*
1 ts coarse salt
50 cl freshly squeezed lemon juice **
50 g almonds, slivered walnuts
2 chopped hard-boiled eggs***
1 tbs of fresh parsley, chopped

Put cucumber, garlic and 125 cl of stock in a blender until smooth. (Do it in 2 servings). Transfer to a large bowl.
Whisk in the remaining stock and the sour cream, salt, and lemon juice(**).
Cover, and chill in refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.
Put some of the eggs and the almonds*** in a deep plate and pour over the gazpacho. Decorate with fresh parsley.
Serve with lukewarm olive oil sprinkled bread.****

*Replace with (half or completely) with yogurt for a lighter, less savoury dish.
**Replace 1 tbs with 1 tbs dry sherry.
***Optionally chop 2 tomatoes, skinned and peeled, for garnish.
****Or crumble some bread in the plate before piling on the ingredients.

This recipe was developed from a Malaga Arabian recipe, the ajo blanco.
Read more gazpacho recipes: Cordoba salmorejo, traditional gazpacho.