FRESH RECIPE: Green Goddess Soup with Lump Crab!

‘Tis going to be a hot weekend in the Washington, D.C. area as temperatures are set to rise to near one hundred degrees! Our region is blessed with a multitude of historic homes and when it is this hot out I wonder how humans ever survived in them - and dressed that way to boot! Add the fact that they did not possess refrigeration (nor copious amounts of ice) and I know I wouldn’t be able to survive.

So as I spend the weekend gleefully indoors, with a great view overlooking a green lawn, I shall prepare something that is cooling, healthy, and delicious. It’s a little retro and a little modern. It’s Green Goddess Soup with Lump Crabmeat. Of course, one may omit the crab and say add poached shrimp or a chilled piece of salmon, or nothing at all! Served alongside a leafy salad (perhaps butter lettuce, red onions, and blueberries?) and you’ll be enjoying a lunch that is fit to linger.

Green Goddess Soup with Lump Crabmeat

serves eight as a first course

Ingredients

1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped

1 ripe medium avocado, peeled, pitted, and quartered

6 scallions, including about 1 inch of the green stem, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)

1/4 cup Italian parsley leaves, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon tarragon leaves, plus 1 tablespoon minced for garnish

1 tablespoon chives, roughly chopped, plus 1 tablespoon minced for garnish

1 cup unsalted chicken stock

1 cup sour cream

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat

Instructions

1. Place the cucumber, avocado, scallions, parsley, tarragon leaves, and chopped chives into a food processor. Process for about 10 seconds. Add the chicken stock, sour cream, lemon juice, salt, and cayenne. Process for another 10 seconds, until the mixture is smooth and well blended.

2. Pour the soup into a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for at least 2 hours. When ready to serve, ladle into soup bowls or plates, garnish with a couple of lumps of the crabmeat, and sprinkle with the minced tarragon and minced chives.