Summer Fruit Soup

[Jerry Avins]

Last Thursday, I was served a small cup of something called Summer Fruit
Soup as an hors d'oeuvre at an artsy movie event. *ĄLove at first bite!*
Yesterday morning, I made my own approximation, and served it for
supper. It was great. Here's what I did:

3 mangoes
1 small can (6 oz.) of pineapple juice
1 small can (8 oz.) of pineapple chunks
1 banana
2 or 3 limes
2 kiwi fruit (star fruit would be good too)
1/8 of a ripe cantaloupe (about half a pound with the rind)
(I didn't have blueberries, but they would have been nice too.)

Scrape the flesh out of the mango skins and off the pit into a blender,
add the juice from the pineapple chunks and the 6-oz. can, the juice and
pulp of the limes (pits removed, of course) and blend well. (A little
more than 3 cups of liquid.)

Remove the cantaloupe rind and pits, cut the flesh into spoon-size bits.

Into a 2- or 3-quart bowl that can be covered, put

2/3 of the banana, sliced [1];
3/4 of the pineapple chunks, cut to half thickness [2];
all the kiwi, peeled, sliced, and quartered;
the cantaloupe.

Mix gently. Pour the liquefied mango over the mix, and stir once or
twice to put all surfaces in contact with it. Cover and refrigerate.
Serve cold, bowing to the diners in appreciation of their applause.

With fresh ripe pineapple available -- true ripeness being a rarity in
these parts -- I would of course use that, modifying the mix
accordingly. I call it a mix, rather than a recipe, because the real
recipe is: "Use what you have". Maybe I'll base it on papaya next time.

Jerry
_________________________________
1. Slice all of the banana, and combine the unused part with the unused
pineapple chunks. This is called the "Cook's Perquisite"; eat it. Enjoy!

2. If your knife isn't sharp enough to do this neatly, halve the pieces
the other way.
--
"The rights of the best of men are secured only as the
rights of the vilest and most abhorrent are protected."
- Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, 1927

"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin, 1759
ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ

[The Hackett Family]

<snip

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Gosh Jerry... the only thing you missed was to "serve" the soup *in* the
cantaloupe halves; presuming, that is, that you had enough rind left. Hmmm,
and if you had made it out of fresh pineapple you could have done the same
thing... Your soup sounds divine and I look forward to creating something
similar.

In fact, we're having a summer party (Soup & Salad Sunday) in August, where
I'm planning on serving 3 chilled soups, 3 vegetable based salads and 1
chicken salad to be served inside tomato cups - looks like we'll be having a
bumper crop this year. The stalks are so thick and tall! A couple of the
tomato plants are slightly over 5 feet tall this year. Amazing!

The next party will be in October and it will be a Desert theme. It's
themed accordingly because I found my acrylic margarita glasses with the
cactus built into the stem. The menu is already planned - with one
exception - I can't decide between serving Rattlesnake or Cobra. I'll post
the menu beforehand so that all may drool and the results afterwards.

Drooling as I type,
Cyndi