Strawberry-Basil Soup

Impress summer guests without breaking a sweat with this stunning, easy-to-assemble cold soup that needs no cooking.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. ripe strawberries
2 T. red wine vinegar
Fresh basil leaves
3 T. extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper as directed
sour cream to garnish 

METHOD

Wash and hull the strawberries and put directly into food processor or blender. Puree.

Add vinegar, 2 pinches of salt and 3 twists of pepper mill. Mix and taste.

It should have a vinegary, salty taste but a nice sweetness. If strawberries are not as sweet as desired, add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and puree again.

Add olive oil and 4 big basil leaves. Puree until all is smooth.

Serve chilled with 2-3 slices of strawberry on top of each bowl, basil leaves and a dollop of sour cream.

This recipe is one of more than 100 favorite family recipes from Mount Washington home cooks past and present offered in the newly published 'Mountain Cookery', a handsome, hard-covered, spiral-bound collection. Available only at this year’s Mount Washington Church Fair scheduled for Saturday, August 6th from 10AM to 3:00PM at the corner of East Street and Cross Road. Come, enjoy and buy the cookbook. For further information contact dlmosk@aol.com.