There have been days recently when introducing vegetables into my husband's diet has been a challenge. Sometimes he would curl his lower lip out and pout like a petulant toddler; other days he might eat his vegetables only if I was willing to categorize them by priority, at which point he would dutifully pick out the high priority vegetables and shun the rest.
Enter the vegetable soup. In this case I would call it "salad soup" but the recipe name is actually, or at least as I recorded it in my file, Tomato Avocado Soup. According to my notes the original recipe was from Anne Marshall, but I have no idea if it was from her book "The World's Healthiest Food" or if I picked it up from some magazine somewhere. The original consists of vegetables, unadorned. I added olive oil, salt, and vinegar, specifically Cuisine Perel's Late Harvest Riesling Vinegar, effectively dressing my salad as I pureed it. Since we are coming in to tomato season, this has become a standarrd part of the lunch repetoire depite its vile color. No it is not the photograph.
Tomato Avocado Soup
2 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 avocado, sliced
4 scallions
2 celery stalks, sliced
1/2 lemon
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup basil leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil. I prefer extra virgin.
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 or 9 cherry tomatoes, chopped
Thickly slice 3 of the scallions. Mince the fourth scallion and set it aside with the chopped cherry tomatoes.
Combine the sliced scallions with all remaining ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. The blender will make a finer puree than the food processor.
Divide into bowls and serve topped with chopped cherry tomatoes and minced scallion.
The recipe states that this serves 4. I added the oil and vinegar, but otherwise the recipe is pretty close to the original, although with a bit less basil. Perhaps I use smaller tomatoes, but I get 3 1/2 cups of soup which would yield 4 very small servings which might be fine as a side dish but not as main, even at lunch. As a main dish it serves 2 to 3 depending on how hearty the appetites.
