Chilled Cantaloupe Soups

These two takes on a chilled cantaloupe soup are perfect for the warmer weather. One is more on the savory side, yet with a definite sweetness, the other is more gazpacho-like with cucumber and cilantro, which mellows out the bright orange color a bit. Both are super easy to make and are crowd pleasers.

And speaking of warmer weather…now that the warmer weather is here, we are definitely spending more time out in our yard….  watching all of our plants die.

Basically, we use reclaimed water for all outdoor needs (car washing, watering the plants, etc), which the city turned off several months ago after somebody drank it and got sick (I’m guessing this is the same person who probably drinks from the sink in the airplane bathroom too).  And after completing some mysterious “repairs” to the system which did absolutely nothing to make the water one iota safer to drink,  they are going house to house to turn it back on (or to figure out who else has been drinking it and has sprouted a third eye, horns, or cloven hooves).

I called for an appointment, and was told that they were not scheduling currently due to all the thunderstorms (apparently, just the prediction of one causes widespread panic at city hall with people running around screaming,”the sky is falling, the sky is falling!”)  They told me to call back in a week (I’m assuming they have some inside information regarding weather and can tell weeks out when exactly to expect storms..maybe they have a crystal ball?  tarot cards? a ouija board?  crazy 8 ball?

The very next day, there was a note on my door saying that they were there, but the gates to the backyard were locked (no kidding), so they couldn’t get in (duh–that’s kind of the purpose of locks which is why I called to schedule) and would be back…sometime. Apparently, they assumed that if the gates were locked, we wouldn’t answer the doorbell either (makes sense in the same way it makes sense to solicitors that just because I have a phone, it means I want to be called every ten minutes with an offer that is too good to refuse).  Really?

The next note came a day later saying they were there again, but couldn’t find the turn-on valve which was supposed to be under a plate in the front yard, so they would be back. You mean the big metal plate in the front yard next to the driveway?  That metal plate with the valve?  (Okay, so you can’t find my doorbell or the metal plate… starting to wonder how you even found my house…was it like a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey kind of thing where you just drove around and wherever you ran out of gas you stopped and that was the house you  decided to turn the water on for?)

I finally got ahold of someone who said they would send a guy out the next week to turn the water on.  He arrived the next morning. ( A day, a week…is there really any difference?)  Fortunately, he was able to problem solve (why couldn’t he have been the first guy to come out?), and not only was he able to find the valve, he was also familiar with the concept of a doorbell, and actually spoke to us. In no time at all, we had water! (So this is how Jed Clampbet felt when he went hunting some food and up through the ground came that bubbling crude!)

So while our water was restored, I have to worry about the guy who finally got it working.  I’m pretty sure he will be getting fired because he is waaaay too smart to be working for the city.

Ingredients for variation 1:

• 3 cups of cut up cantaloupe
• 1 cup of peeled and cut up cucumber
• 1 Tablespoon firmly packed cilantro
• pinch of salt
• jalapeños (optional)
• honey (optional)

Ingredients for variation 2:

• 4 cups cut up cantaloupe
• 1  1/2 Tablespoons sliced shallots
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1- 1  1/2 Tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste
• honey (optional)

Directions:

1. For variation 1, place all ingredients except jalapeños and honey in a high speed blender and process to desired consistency. Taste, and add honey if desired.  Start with a 1/4 teaspoon of the honey and gradually increase.  Cantaloupe is generally fairly sweet, so unless you have one that has not ripened enough and is not sweet, you will probably not need to add honey.  Put in serving containers and sprinkle some jalapeños on top.
2. For variation 2, put all ingredients  in a high speed blender and puree till smooth.  Taste and adjust the salt and pepper and vinegar if needed.  Add honey only if the cantaloupe was a bit unripe and therefore not sweet.  Start with a 1/4 teaspoon and add more as desired.

Enjoy!