Need No Cooking-Soup: A Cool Blend of Advocado and Cream

This soup is very suitable to be served for summer.
When soups are not cooked, special attention must be paid to every aspect of the raw ingredients used, including texture and appearance. For this recipe, the success of the uncooked avocado soup depends upon the creamy, blemish-free ripeness of the avocado flesh. Avocados bought ripe are often marred by bruises from handling; to avoid this, buy firm fruit and ripen it at home for a few days. Avocados are ready when they yield slightly to gentle pressure.

1. Peeling an avocado. Starting from the broader end, cut through the flesh to the stone. Rotate the knife around the stone to halve the avocado lengthwise. Pull the halves apart and prise out the stone with the knife tip. Slice each half in two and, starting at the stem end, peel the skin from each piece. For added color, scrape off the dark green flesh that clings to the inside of the skin. Drench all the avocado flesh with lemon juice to prevent discoloration and to add a slight tartness.

2. Puréeing. Put the avocado flesh in a large bowl, and mash it with a fork to make a rough purée. If you want a smooth-textured soup, pas this purée through a food mill or press it through a fine sieve. For a varied texture, try mixing a very smooth purée with some flesh that has only been roughly mashed.

3. Combining ingredients. Stir into the purée enough cold liquid to make it easy to pour: both white wine or, as here, chicken broth are suitable. Add salt, white pepper and cayenne pepper; enrich the soup with sweet or soured cream. Pour the soup into a tureen, cover and chill in the refrigerator.

4. Serving the soup. Sprinkle finely chopped, fresh chives over the chilled avocado soup just before serving. Chopped fresh dill may be substituted for the slightly sweet contrast of flavor it contributes. Ladle the garnished soup into well-chilled soup plates.