Cold Plum Soup

Years ago, I had a Satsuma plum tree in my backyard that yielded an egregious amount of dark purple plums every August. Even with friends and neighbors helping to gather the bounty, I couldn’t keep up with the volume of fruit this one tree produced. So I started to collect plum recipes and learned to make everything with plums: chutney, coffee cake, cobblers, tarts, preserves, tatins, pies, jam, turnovers. 

But my favorite recipe was for a cold dessert soup that at first caused a stir of doubt in the house, but soon became a family favorite. Gathered around the patio table on a hot summer evening, we slurped bowls of this fruit potage, and smiled in gratitude at our little plum tree.

When I left that house, my first concern about moving into a just-built home with a dirt patch for a back yard, was how much I was going to miss those plums so I quickly planted a young Satsuma sapling and prayed for plums that first summer. Well, it took a few seasons for that little tree to get going, but now it too is laden every year. Even sizable branches have broken under the weight of the fruit, and still the fruit keeps coming.

This summer, the birds have beaten me to the harvest, pecking at the fruit at their peak of freshness and causing just enough damage to start the rot. It’s a daily battle, but I’m determined to salvage enough plums to make my favorite plum soup.

Cold Plum Potage

2 pounds purple plums (about 10), washed, stemmed, pitted, cut in quarters

2 cups water

2 Tablespoons orange juice, fresh or frozen

½ cup sugar

Pinch of salt

Pinch of ground nutmeg

1 large egg, beaten until light and foamy

Crème fraîche, or whipped cream

Thin slivers of orange peel for garnish

In a 2-quart saucepan, add plums, water, orange juice, sugar, salt and nutmeg. Bring mixture to a boil, lower flame and simmer 20-30 minutes until plums are soft. Adding in a little crème de cassis or red wine wouldn’t hurt. Cool. Purée mixture in the blender. Add egg and blend mixture thoroughly. Taste to correct sugar, and chill soup for several hours. Serve with a dollop of crème fraîche and garnish with orange peel.

Serves 6.

If your friends and family are reluctant to try it because they’ve never tasted a cold fruit soup before, tell them it’s a Scandinavian delicacy, which it is, and is the signature summer dessert at toney restaurants on the East Coast, which it is. Or tell them it is an adult smoothie, and serve it in glasss instead of a bowl. Either way, you’ll win them over once they’ve had a taste.

Pea Shooters

My broken toe has pretty much limited my garden activities to sitting on the patio and gazing out at all the herbs that need trimming, or picking and using in the kitchen. How frustrating to see all that oregano, tarragon, mint, chives and parsley flowering and going to seed due to neglect.

Meanwhile, my fellow gardeners (the ones with two good legs) are having a hey-day making hearty salads, salsas, pesto, vegetable soups and garnishing everything from cold drinks to steaming hot pasta with the bounty from their gardens.

During a recent heat wave, newspaper food sections were staying away from writing about hot soups and casseroles, featuring instead cold soups for dinner that had the double benefit of using fresh vegetables and herbs from the garden. I found a recipe in the New York Times that seemed like something even a gimp could manage (with a few adjustments), so after a little shopping and a minimum of herb-gathering in the garden, I renamed the recipe and started in.

Pea Shooters

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 Leeks, white and light green parts only, cleaned and sliced

Salt to taste

5 Cups frozen or fresh peas (I used 2 12-ounce bags of frozen peas)

3 Cups, tightly packed, coarsely chopped Bibb lettuce (about 1 head)

¼ Cup coarsely chopped tarragon leaves

¼ Cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves

¼ Cup coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves

¼ Cup chopped chives

Small whole herb leaves for garnish

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot. (Set aside the remaining 2 tablespoons for use later). Add the leeks and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the peas, lettuce and stock and bring to a boil. Add salt to taste, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Drain through a strainer set over a bowl, and allow the vegetables and the broth to cool separately for 15 minutes. Taste the broth and season to taste.

Working in batches, puree the vegetables and herbs in a blender with the broth and remaining olive oil for 2 minutes per batch until smooth and frothy. Pour into a large bowl and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings. Chill for several hours. 

Serve in soup bowls if this is to be the main course, but I like the idea of serving it in individual Irish coffee glasses, espresso cups or shot glasses as an appetizer or aperitif.  Either way, garnish each serving with leaves of tarragon or mint.

Makes 2 quarts, enough for six soup bowls, or 12-15 aperitifs.