This Chilled Avocado Soup is rich and silky and comes together in no time.
Honestly-the hardest part of this is catching the avocado at the right point of ripeness.
Here is a little tip that I learned that may help. You know the old joke about an avocado- not ready, not ready, not ready, not ready, ready, rotten, rotten, rotten!
Check the little stem button on the narrow end of the avocado. If it doesn't flick off easily it is not ripe, if it comes off and there is a light green skin under it the avocado should be perfect; if the skin is brown underneath chances are the inside will have brown spots too.
So- hopefully- that will help!
You can make this in a blender or with a hand held blender in minutes.
The basic soup recipe is very silky and bright with the fresh lemon juice. If you want to add a bit of colour and presentation you can sprinkle some Chile Lime Seasoning (orTiajin) in the middle, add a bit of minced red pepper or green onion stalks or get fancy and center a bit of lobster meat or a shrimp in the middle.
I made this at the same time as these Atlantic Lobstern Rolls so I used a bit of the claw meat from the package I was using.
Can You Make Avocado Soup Ahead?
It is probably easiest to prepare the other ingredients ahead and just blend in the avocados at the last minute before serving. But... life isn't always that tidy so I experimented with it.
I covered the surface of the soup with plastic wrap (like you would so a custard doesn't form a skin). That mean the plastic wrap is laying right on the surface of the soup and pressed on the surface right out to the edges. I did that and then I covered the top of my pitcher for more insurance. The name of the game here is to not let any air come in contact with the avocado. It was ok for the first hour or so. After that some air was obviously reaching the avocado because a dark gray film was forming on the top.
I scraped the dark layer off carefully and the soup was fine. I tried the same thing overnight with the leftover soup. It made another dark layer but even when I scraped it off the rest started turning gray quite quickly. So... I would advise trying to save leftovers here but you can make it a couple of hours ahead if you take the air tight precautions above.
Ingredients
- 4 ripe avocados Pits removed
- 1 cup 10% cream
- 2 cups chicken broth
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper more to taste
- ½ lemon, juice only more to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt
Possible Garnishes
- Chili Lime seasoning salt Optional
- red pepper minced Optional
- lobster or shrimp optional
- hot sauce drops optional
Instructions
- Scoop avocado flesh in to a blender. Add the lemon juice, cream and blend. Blend in the chicken broth, cayenne and salt.
- Divide among serving bowls and garnish with the garnish of your choice. Pass extra lemon, hot sauce etc so people can adjust to their taste.
- This is best served immediately. You can hold it in the fridge an hour so by laying plastic wrap on the surface of the soup so no (or little) air can reach the avocado. If a gray film forms gently scrape it off before serving.
RALPH HETKE
Excellent soup.
RALPH HETKE
This is a keeper.