Cold Soup

When tomatoes are at their best, take a cue from Hetal Vasavada and don't cook them at all. "In the summer, Indian families often make kachumber salad. It's basically an Indian pico de gallo situation, minus the cilantro," says Vasavada. "My husband loves gazpacho—he's the kind of person who drinks salsa from the jar—so I thought this would be a nice, cool summer dish." Vasavada channeled her love for kachumber, a fresh, cucumber-based Indian salad, to inspire this exciting riff on the classic chilled summery soup. Warm spices and a hint of chile add flavor and heat without overwhelming the fresh tomatoes; sev, a crispy chickpea noodle snack, adds a pleasant crunch.

A chilled soup is my dinner party savior. Anyone who has ever hosted a couple dozen people in a small apartment knows that some courses can’t require 12 components, three hours of prep time, or an optimal serving temperature. When I’m hosting guests, a soup like this helps me keep my sanity, or at least lets me get a few sips of wine in between courses!Since March of last year I’ve been hosting a dinner series with the intention of helping people connect with my native Nigerian cuisine through the recipes from my childhood spent there. I’ve had the ambitious, if not exactly practical goal of trying to cram the harried chaos of Lagos—Nigeria’s most populous city—onto a plate. This cool mango soup was inspired by the frenzied crawl, the hurry-up-and-wait pace of driving into Lagos from the west, and when I first served it I named it “Lagos-Badagry Expressway.”I took a road trip with my family to Badagry, a city a few hours outside Lagos (it often takes 2 to 3 hours in traffic just to get out of Lagos, so we’ll just say a few). The expressway’s unimaginative name fails to capture the wild exuberance of the road itself, as teeming with life as a bazaar. Buses spill out their riders without coming to a complete stop, pedestrians stride along the dusty strip between eastbound and westbound traffic, and cars cross over that same strip to use any lane they can to pass—even joining the traffic going the other direction! Small markets line the road. Food sellers hawk their wares alongside the “go-slow.” And there is plenty of go-slow.When I was visiting, it was during mango season. Mango trees lined the road, and all of those standstills lent me plenty of time to stare out at the branches heavy with ripe fruit, dreaming up recipes. So here it is—a burst of tart sweetness, and then a slow enveloping of herbs. Like the traffic coming into Lagos.The cold, smooth emulsion of mango and coconut milk is the vehicle that highlights the scent leaf—“efirin” in Yoruba—a magical leaf that embodies the essence of cinnamon, mint, and basil. (Thai basil has a similar, if not exact aroma and is a good stand-in here.) The soup ends with a note of habanero oil, a tingle just barely hitting the back of your palate. Frozen mango cubes are great for smoothies; just don’t use them here. Any fresh and lusciously ripe mangoes will do—they don’t have to be harvested from the roadside in Lagos to be delicious.

At Vicia in St. Louis, Best New Chef Michael Gallina closes the loop in his cooking. This refreshing gazpacho highlights Gallina’s zero-waste approach: The base of it is built on the tomato seeds and pulp, plus the brine of pickled green tomatoes, from an elegant amuse-bouche of Tomato and Watermelon Bites. The total time for this recipe includes straining the gazpacho in the refrigerator overnight, which yields a clear but deeply flavorful broth.

Salmorejois a classic soup made primarily with tomatoes and bread. It’s best with a splash of sherry vinegar, but Andalusian tomatoes pack a good hit of acidity, so they often omit it in Spain. It’s also frequently made withpan de telera,一种硬辊,thickens the soup, but anything from a ciabatta to a rustic white loaf is good here.Slideshow: More Cold Soup Recipes

This truly delicious gazpacho is inspired by Andalusian chef Dani García, who includes sweet cherries in the mix, then tops the summery soup with shaved goat cheese “snow.”Slideshow: More Cherry Recipes

At their San Antonio restaurant, Mixtli, F&W Best New Chefs 2017 Rico Torres and Diego Galicia serve this zesty, creamy cold soup as a refreshing beginning course to their Michoacán tasting menu. That region is the largest and most important avocado producer in Mexico, so this dish is a fitting start to the meal. The chilled soup, which is topped with fiery, crisp serranos and sweet crab, is a nice alternative to a classic tomato gazpacho.Slideshow: 更多的鳄梨的食谱