Chilled soup recipes for hot fall days

After living in sunny Southern California for more than 20 years, I still have not adjusted to the relentless summer heat continuing well into October. Just as I was preparing to put up a pot of pumpkin soup earlier this week, temperatures soared into the 90s. Foiled by Mother Nature yet again, I had to look for plan B. Fortunately, remnants of summer produce as well as veggies that cross seasonal boundaries are readily available.

Having set my sights on soup, I can’t help but note that in hot weather like this, it, like revenge, is best served cold. It doesn’t generate a whole lot of heat in the kitchen and it is a refreshing pick-me-up at the end of a steamy day. Here are a few recipes from our archives that can resolve my dilemma.

A Buttermilk Soup With Radishes and Peppery Green Oil caught my eye because I am always looking for something to do with radishes other than merely slice them into salads or onto a sandwich. Here, after pulverizing them in the food processor along with garlic and scallions, they get mixed with buttermilk and sour cream and then seasoned (heavily, as the cold will dull the flavors) and chilled. The radishes will release some liquid as they soften, which will thin the soup a bit. If it is not thinned enough when you remove it from the refrigerator, add some milk, a little at a time, until it is the consistency you would like. Bonus: This is also a great way to use the rest of that quart of buttermilk you bought when you needed less than a cup of it to bake that pumpkin spice bread last week (I had intended to use it in my pumpkin soup).

A great vehicle for leftover cabbage and leeks, Ben Mims’ Blackened Borscht With Spicy Feta Bread Crumbs has you grill (or broil) both before pureeing them with the remaining ingredients. The charred vegetables lend a smoky flavor to the earthy beet-based broth. The pungent feta and spiced bread crumbs help awaken the flavors in the soup after it has been chilled.

Sauteed leeks and carrots bring depth and a bit of potato gives body to a delicately flavored Chilled Zucchini Soup. While zucchini season is technically over in September, most people I know are still trying to figure out how to use the “gift” of someone’s garden surplus of it. This is a delicious way to put the last of that zucchini to good use.

Thomas Keller has a way with vegetables (OK, with all food), and his Chilled Carrot Soup is like an ode to the long, slender roots. His methodology is simple (and can be applied to most any vegetable): Cook (boil, steam or roast as you normally would), blend (puree in a food processor or blender or with an immersion blender), thin with liquid (if necessary), season and strain. The carrots in this recipe are “glazed,” meaning that they are cooked in a little bit of liquid and butter until the liquid evaporates and the vegetables become coated with the shiny, sweet reduction of the cooking liquid.

Ajo blanco is a popular Spanish cold gazpacho made primarily of bread, crushed almonds, garlic, olive oil, salt and sometimes vinegar. It is usually served with grapes or melon. Ben Mims’ Grilled Fennel Ajo Blanco amplifies the flavors by adding grilled fennel to the mix, which lends a smokiness to the garlicky broth and offsets the sweetness of the grapes.

When ripe heirloom tomatoes are slow-roasted, a marvelous, deeply concentrated flavor emerges. Puree them with thyme, garlic and onions and you get an intensely tomato-y Chilled Roasted Heirloom Tomato Soup. Brighten it with some basil-y pistou and/or round it out with a dollop of crème fraîche and you have a bowl of tomato-forward heaven.

Chilled Roasted Heirloom Tomato Soup

Roast the tomatoes and make this soup the day before you want to serve it and chill it in the refrigerator overnight. Straining after pureeing will ensure a luxurious, silky texture. Garnished with pistou and/or crème fraîche, it is like drinking ripe tomatoes on steroids.
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Cook time: 2 hours 25 minutes

(Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Times)

Chilled Zucchini Soup

Served with a rustic, crusty bread and some pâté, this soup makes for a filling, nourishing and refreshing meal.
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Cook time: 40 minutes.

(Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Blackened Borscht With Spicy Feta Bread Crumbs

Buying precooked beets is not only a great time saver for this recipe but also helps keep the kitchen — and perhaps the rooms around it — cool on a hot day. Alternatively, you can bake or steam raw beets early in the day before the temperature outside starts to rival that of the oven. The bread crumbs can be made up to three days ahead and stored in an airtight container.
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Cook time: 20 minutes, plus 1 hour chilling.

(Leslie Grow / For the Times)

Buttermilk Soup With Radishes And Peppery Green Oil

Blend radishes and their blanched tops with buttermilk, green onions and a little garlic, and you’ve got a soup that’s tart and spicy with bits of crunch. Float thinly sliced radishes on top and drizzle with a little green oil made from those peppery tops, and you’ve got something elegant enough to start a nice dinner party.
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Cook time: 25 minutes.

(Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Grilled Fennel Ajo Blanco

The anise flavor of grilled fennel works to balance the creamy, garlicky soup and play up the sweetness of the grape garnish in this quick vegan recipe.
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Cook time: 15 minutes plus 1 hour chilling.

(Leslie Grow / For the Times)

Chilled Carrot Soup

Easy to prepare and bursting with carrot flavor, this soup is an example of Thomas Keller’s simple methodology for making cold vegetable soups. For extra carrot flavor, glaze the carrots in carrot juice rather than water. It will taste like a gardenful of carrots in your mouth.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 1 hour 45 minutes.

(Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)