Here’s something I’d forgotten about, and it’s soooo good! At Costco the other day I came across a bag of frozen, pitted cherries. Also had to buy some wine for a stew recipe, and so had on hand the better part of a bottle of cheap red. Combine these judiciously and you come up with a delicious treat: cold cherry soup.
You need:
• blender
• a sieve, if desired
• one cup or more of pitted bing cherries
• cold water and red wine, combined, to cover
• sugar to taste
• dashes (1/2 to 1/4 tsp) of sweetish spices, such as nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, and coriander, to taste
• a few black peppercorns
• dollop of yoghurt, sour cream, or heavy cream, if desired
Place all the ingredients in the blender. I use a fair amount of sugar, because I like the soup to be rather sweet—maybe 1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar to a cup of cherries and two cups of liquid. Adjust to fit your own preferences. Cover and turn the blender to “high.” Purée the bedoodles out of it.
When I first started making this soup, I ran it through a strainer after puréeing. This results in a more elegant product, but it’s not necessary for flavor or anything other than looks. Just to eat the soup en famille, there’s probably no need to strain it.
Chill the soup and serve in bowls. I’ve developed a taste for added heavy cream, a very bad habit. Sour cream is also very nice, and a good-quality low-fat yoghurt is just as pleasing but a lot more virtuous. If you’re teetotaling or serving this to kids (speaking of virtue), you can omit the wine and still come up with a good spiced cherry soup.
