Avocado Honeydew Gazpacho

Difficulty:
1/5

Servings: 6

Ease of Preparation: Medium

This recipe is part of the One BIG Recipe: Salmon and Duck Dinner

AVOCADO HONEYDEW GAZPACHO

Ingredients:

Pickled Cantaloupe:

  • ¼ cantaloupe, no seeds or peel
  • ½ cup (120 ml) apple cider vinegar

Mascarpone Garnish:

  • 8-ounce (250 ml) container mascarpone
  • 3 sprigs of mint
  • 1 teaspoon (5 ml) ground black pepper

Gazpacho:

  • 2 Poblano peppers
  • Oil, for the grill
  • 1 large ripe honeydew melon
  • 1 English cucumber
  • ½ bunch cilantro (about ¼ cup/60 ml loosely packed)
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 limes, juice, plus more (as needed)
  • 2 ripe avocados
  • 3 ½ fluid ounces (100 ml) ginger beer
  • Salt

Crostini:

  • 1 Baguette
  • Olive oil

Special Equipment:

  • Zip top bag

 

Method:

For the Pickled Cantaloupe:

Chop the cantaloupe into very small cubes, about 1/8 inch (3 mm) per side.

About 30 minutes before serving, add apple cider vinegar to the chopped cantaloupe, and refrigerate.

 For the Mascarpone Garnish:

Pull an 8-ounce (250 ml) container of mascarpone from the fridge to come up to room temperature

When softened, transfer the room temperature mascarpone to a small bowl.

Strip the leaves from 3 sprigs of mint, chop the leaves very fine, enough to yield about 1 ½ tablespoons (7.5 ml). Add the chopped mint to the mascarpone.

Add black pepper and stir until well combined. Season with salt.

Cover and add to a tray with the bowl of cantaloupe and refrigerate both until needed.

For the Crostini:

Preheat a grill or grill pan to high heat.

With a serrated bread knife, cut 6 thin (1/4-inch/6 mm) slices of crostini from a baguette on a bias.

NOTE: Make sure that the crostini slices are longer than the edges of your bowl.

Brush the bread slices with olive oil and grill for 20 seconds or so per side, until just toasted.

Set the crostini aside at room temperature until needed.

For the Gazpacho:

While the grill is still hot, brush lightly with oil and lay on 2 whole poblano peppers and grill until evenly and heavily charred.

While still very hot, transfer the charred peppers to a zip top bag, seal tightly and allow to steam for 10 minutes.

Remove the roasted poblanos from the sealed container and transfer to a cutting board.

Holding the pepper by the stem, use the back of a paring knife to scrape away the charred skin, it should come off quite easily. Discard the skin.

Open the pepper and cut out the seed pod, then scrape away the seeds and membranes.

Peel and seed 1 large ripe honeydew melon. Roughly chop for blending and add to a large bowl.

Peel and seed 1 English cucumber, then roughly chop for blending, add to the bowl.

Add the cilantro, garlic, and the reserved Poblano to the bowl. Add the lime juice and season with salt and pepper.

Transfer (in batches, if needed) to the bowl of a blender and blend until smooth.

When well blended, halve, pit, and scoop the flesh from two avocados.

Add the avocados to the mixture in the blender, and resume blending until smooth and creamy.

Transfer the finished soup to a bowl and refrigerate until needed for plating. Chill six soup serving bowls at the same time.

To Serve:

Pull the Mascarpone Garnish and the Pickled Cantaloupe from the fridge to warm to room temperature.

Retrieve the chilled soup and the chilled bowls from the refrigerator.

Pour the ginger beer into the soup and stir to combine.

Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and more lime juice, if needed.

Ladle the soup into the bowls.

Use a spoon to schmear a dollop of Mascarpone Garnish onto 6 crostini.

Top the mascarpone with a spoonful of Pickled Cantaloupe.

Lay a crostini over each bowl.

Serve Immediately.