Golden Summer Soup

This recipe comes from Daniel Orr, the former chef at the Cuisinart Resort and Spa in the Caribbean - and I didn't have to alter a thing to make it vegan! It relies completely on the beautiful summer bounty happening in your garden - or a garden near you - right now. Do all of your chopping and prep work ahead of time!

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and coat with cooking spray. Add 2 minced garlic cloves and saute for 15 seconds. Add 8 cups chopped yellow tomato, 3 cups chopped Vidalia onion (or other sweet onion of your choice), 2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 3 ears), and 1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper.

Bring to a boil. This step sounded counter-intuitive to me, since it's really only vegetables in your pot, not liquid, but it is the liquid from the tomatoes that will begin to bubble and boil - if you need to, stir a little well down to the bottom so you can see the liquid, because you will have a large mass of vegetables sitting on top at the moment!

Once it boils, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Transfer half of the soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Press the pureed mixture through a fine sieve over a bowl; reserve the liquid and discard the solids. Repeat with the other half of the tomato mixture. You'll wind up with about 5 cups of liquid.

Stir 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. grated lemon rind, 1/2 tsp. black pepper and 1/2 tsp. hot sauce into the resulting soup. Set aside.

In a small dish, mix together 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chervil, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil and 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley. I was delighted because this is the first time I've used chervil in a recipe - it looks like a delicate, miniature version of parsley (and indeed, the two plants are related).

Ladle 1 and 1/4 cups of soup into each of 4 bowls. Top each serving with 1 tablespoon of the herb mixture and 1/4 cup halved grape or cherry tomatoes. Each serving is 210 calories.

p.s. you can see more about Daniel Orr at his website: www.chef-daniel-orr.com/

Cost:
yellow tomato $13.01
Vidalia onion $1.54
fresh corn $1.32
yellow bell pepper $2.07
lemon $0.99
chervil $3.29
chives $2.49
flat-leaf parsley $1.69
grape tomatoes $3.49