Mostly Cherry Fruit Soup With Shortbread Croutons Recipes

CELERY ROOT SOUP WITH CROUTONS

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a simmer, add celery root pieces, and simmer until soft, about 30 minutes. Drain.
• Place celery root in a blender and process until smooth. Transfer puree to a pot, add vegetable broth, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add cream and cook until hot, but don't boil. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
• Meanwhile, melt butter in a skillet over medium heat and toast bread cubes until dry and lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with chopped parsley and croutons.

CHERRY SOUP

Steps:

• In large saucepan, place the cherries, water, sugar and cinnamon. Bring to a boil. Cook for 15 minutes or until cherries until tender. Adjust sugar, if necessary, depending on tartness of cherries. , For dumplings, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir in milk. Drop by teaspoonfuls into boiling soup. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until dumplings are fluffy. Serve immediately.

MOSTLY CHERRY FRUIT SOUP WITH SHORTBREAD 'CROUTONS'

Steps:

• To make the soup, bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add the peach and boil for 1 minute. Place immediately in a bowl of cold water to refresh, and slip off the skin. Halve and pit the peach and cut it into 1/2-inch pieces. Set aside.
• Place the wine, water, sugar and lemon juice in a large saucepan over medium heat. Tie the lemon zest, bay leaf, thyme and cinnamon stick together with a string and add to the pan. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat so the liquid simmers and add the peach, plums and cherries. Simmer until the fruit is tender, about 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the spices.
• Place 1 cup of the soup in a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Stir the mixture back into the soup. Refrigerate until cold.
• To make the croutons, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift the flour, sugar, cornstarch and salt together into a medium-size bowl. Rub in the butter. Add the almond extract and use your hands to gently work the mixture until it comes together to form a dough. Butter an 8-inch baking pan. Place the dough in the pan, lightly flour fingertips and press dough into the pan in an even layer. Bake until the dough is very lightly browned, about 15 to 20 minutes. While the shortbread is still warm, cut it into 1-inch squares. Let cool.
• To serve, ladle the soup among 4 bowls. Just before serving, garnish each bowl with shortbread croutons.

CHERRY SHORTBREAD HEARTS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Sift the icing sugar, flour and cornflour together into a bowl. Stir in the ground almonds and butter, then rub in the butter until smooth. Stir in the chopped glacé cherries and almond extract, and bring together to form a dough.
• Roll out on a lightly floured surface, then stamp out biscuits using a heartshaped cutter. Keep re-rolling the trimmings until all the dough is used. Carefully transfer the biscuits to baking trays lined with parchment and bake for just 8-10 mins until just pale golden.
• Using an upturned bottle top or similar, press gently into the centre of each biscuit to make a round indent. Spoon in a little jam and return to the oven for 2 mins. Remove and cool on a wire rack, before dusting with icing sugar to serve.

COLD CHERRY SOUP

Steps:

• Pit the cherries, and place the pitted cherries in a bowl and the pits in a large soup pot. Add the water to the pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer five minutes. With a skimmer, remove the pits from the water. Add the sugar, red wine, salt and lemon zest, and bring back to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil five minutes, then add the cherries. Bring to a simmer, turn the heat to low, cover and simmer five minutes. Remove from the heat.
• Place the yogurt in a large bowl and slowly whisk in a cup of the liquid from the soup once it is no longer simmering. Whisk until the mixture is smooth. Slowly add the rest of the soup, and whisk or stir until smooth. Allow to cool, stirring from time to time, then refrigerate until cold. Before serving, you will have to stir or whisk again, as the liquid and yogurt will separate. Still, the soup is easily homogenized.
• Serve in bowls or in glass tumblers. If you wish, garnish with additional halved, pitted fresh cherries.