It's warm enough this September 3 and might not be too late in the day to add chilled soup to dinner menu with this recipe from just published Balaboosta (Artisan Books, September 2013) by Einat Admony, one of the dishes offered at Balaboosta, her New York restaurant.
Melon Gazpacho
Serves 4 to 6
My customers at Balaboosta love my melon gazpacho (some even request it before they’ve seen the menu). The combination of flavors is a nice surprise—the melon, almond, and chile are beautiful together. At the restaurant I serve it with pieces of almond brittle broken up inside, but I left that part out because the brittle is sugar and we’re trying to be healthy here . . . right?
1 ripe cantaloupe, peeled and seeded
1⁄2 cup white wine (I like to use sauvignon blanc)
1⁄4 cup sliced almonds
1 fresh red chile, such as red jalapeño or a long red chile, cored, seeded, and coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Pinch of freshly ground white pepper
Store-bought crispy fried shallots (see page 30) or onions
Chopped fresh mint
Finely chopped peeled jícama
Finely chopped fresh red chile (optional)
1. Cut the cantaloupe into small pieces and place in a food processor. Add the wine, almonds, chile, salt, and pepper and puree until the mixture is smooth. Chill in the refrigerator before serving and garnish with the crispy shallots, mint, jícama, and red chile.
( Recipe excerpted from Balaboosta by Einat Admony- published by Artisan Books, Copyright © 2013- Photographs by Quentin Bacon.)