Chilled Honeydew Soup with Lime Spice Cookies
Summer Deliciousness
By Dara O’Brien
Creative Director, Lake Isle Press
Never underestimate the medicinal properties of chilled melon soup.
Despite what I thought were solid precautions, I have caught a little cold. Not Covid—I got tested just in case. So yeah, I have a cold but I’m sure glad that’s all it is.
Nothing much you can do for a cold with a sore, scratchy throat but take zinc and vitamins and wait it out. But if you can make yourself a soothing melon soup, that would also be a very good thing.
Honeydew has always taken a back seat to cantaloupe with me, but this recipe for Minted Honeydew Melon Soup in the cookbook “Soups + Sides” by Catherine Walthers (published by Lake Isle Press) caught my eye. Actually, the accompanying recipe for Lime Spice Cookies was what first got my attention. Since the recipes were paired together, I made them both.
I baked the cookies first and just loved them. They are lightly flavorful with a nice crumbly shortbread texture. And they’re versatile. Great for a picnic or barbecue, but because they’re not too sweet they could just as easily be served at a cocktail party or a tea. And while I normally love a chewy cookie, a nice light shortbread does the trick on a hot summer day.
The surprise here for me was the soup. I chose to add a dollop of raspberry sorbet, and while neither honeydew nor raspberry are favorites of mine, the flavors complement each other beautifully—for me, they’re better together than on their own.
And it was such a salve to my beleaguered throat; a little bath of tasty, silky coolness. Plus, it’s basically just natural ingredients—fruit and mint—(except the small scoop of sorbet) for an extra dose of goodness.
It’s a simple pairing of two recipes that can stand on their own, but take on new dimensions when served together; each responding to the flavors and textures of the other. Just the right touch when you want to finish off a summer meal with a light and easy dessert. Good for what ails you, and just plain good.
Minted Honeydew Melon Soup with Sorbet
With a pretty lime-green color and specks of mint, this chilled soup makes an easy, light dessert on a hot summer night, especially when paired with lime spice cookies. Garnish with 2 mini scoops of your favorite sorbet; coconut, mango, raspberry, and blackberry are all delicious.
Click here for printable recipe.
Serves 6 for Dessert
INGREDIENTS
1 honeydew melon (about 4 pounds), cut into pieces (about 5 cups)
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 packed tablespoon fresh peppermint leaves
Coconut or raspberry sorbet
Mint leaves, for garnish
PREPARATION
Place the melon, lime juice, lemon juice, and mint together in a blender and puree until smooth and speckled with the green mint. Chill until ready to serve.
Ladle or pour melon soup into small dessert bowls. Using a melon scooper, scoop out 2 or 3 balls of the sorbet of your choice and lightly place on top. Garnish with a mint leaf or sprig.
Dara O’Brien
Dara O’Brien
Lime Spice Cookies
Click here for printable recipe.
Makes about 55 cookies
INGREDIENTS
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 packed teaspoons finely grated lime zest (from about 2 limes)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
PREPARATION
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in a large bowl until creamy. Add the sugar and beat until fully blended. Beat in the egg yolk, then the lime zest and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, ginger, and nutmeg. With the beaters on low speed, add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, beating just until fully combined. The dough should be crumbly but will feel moist when pinched. Gather the dough into a ball, then divide it in half.
On a lightly floured surface, form one half of the dough into a rough log shape, then roll it back and forth to form a smooth cylinder about 10 inches long and 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Roll up the log in plastic wrap and secure with an outer layer of foil. Repeat with the remaining dough. Refrigerate the logs for a few hours or freeze until firm. (The logs can be frozen for up to 2 months.)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Working with one log at a time, cut the dough into 1/4- to 1/3-inch thick slices. Place the rounds on the prepared sheet, arranging them about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until the cookies are a pale golden color, a little browner around the edges, about 13 minutes. Carefully transfer the cookies to a rack to cool.
Minted Honeydew Melon Soup with Sorbet Recipe
and Lime Spice Cookies Recipe
from “Soups + Sides”
by Catherine Walthers, Lake Isle Press, 2010
OTHER RECIPES FROM THIS BOOK
“People are returning to real foods, locally grown—encouraging cooking that reflects ingredients in season.” —Catherine Walthers
A companion to Walthers’s popular “Raising the Salad Bar,” this handy cookbook is an expertly compiled collection of playful yet elegant recipes for soups that are made with fresh ingredients and are just right for any meal or occasion. Whether you mix and match your favorite soups and sides or enjoy them separately, it will dare you to think beyond the everyday and pull you out of your soup slump.