We love The Souper Girl. Thanks to her, soups have stormed their way back into our culinary routine -- quite happily. Inspired by her leadership: this cold summer gaspacho topped with a gently-fried, panko-crusted, chèvre croquette. The freshness of the farmer's market produce just shines through, and the creaminess of the warm chèvre creates a wonderful textural backdrop (slurp...). Make your own this Memorial Day weekend!
The creaminess of the warm chèvre creates a wonderful textural backdrop to the bright flavors of the fresh produce in the gaspacho.
Gaspacho is the soup of summer. This cold, tomato-based soup is refreshing and bright and can be made with a variety of the fresh produce that you'll find at your farmer's market all summer long. Chef Pablo used a FRESHFARM Dupont Market mix in this version: Toigo Orchard's fresh tomatoes, Next Step Produce onions, Gardener's Gourmet fresh chives, and Spring Valley Farm & Orchard's baby zucchini. Another tip from Pablo: fire roast the veggies and chill them before you blend-up in your soup. This lends a lovely smokey-flavor and depth to the soup.
| Beautiful sweet onions from Next Step Produce.   The fresh herbs from Gardener's Gourmet are wonderful in the kitchen. We used a bit of this beautiful fresh chive in the soup, and as a garnish on the chèvre croquette. | The ever-perfect tomatoes form Toigo: eat me!   Beautiful baby zucchini from Spring Hill Farm & Orchard -- sweet and tender. |
You can make your gaspacho in a large batch and leave it in the fridge -- our experience is that it just gets better with a little "aging" and flavor marrying. Make the chèvre croquettes a la minute and serve warm on top of the soup. Garnish with some of the fresh chive.
 | The Allegheny Chèvre is perfectly suited for this: Pablo uses about a 2 ounce slice, forms it into a "patty," dips it in egg wash, and coats it with a bit of panko. Bread crumbs of any kind can be used. The trick to perfect frying: get your pan of olive oil red hot and fry one or two croquettes at a time; 2 minutes on a side. Drain quickly on paper towel to remove excess and serve. |
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