A Bowl of Chilly

If you're looking for a break from summer salads this time of year, change things up with a fresh, flavorful, vegetable-laden soup. And make it a cold one.

August is primetime for light, chilled soups that celebrate just-off-the-vine ingredients such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers -- and tomatillos. Yes, tomatillos, the small, round, green fruits that grow inside husks that resemble tiny lanterns. Once their papery lanterns -- or husks -- are removed, they look like little green or greenish-yellow tomatoes. While they aren't tomatoes, when fully ripe they taste a bit like a tangy tomato, with lemon and green apple notes. You find them most often in Mexican markets -- tomate verde -- or in Mexican-style green sauces and salsas.

Tomatillos might seem foreign to some, but they could be plentiful in Mid-Missouri gardens. They are easy to grow and will reseed in the garden if a few are allowed to fall on the ground at the end of the season. Generally, if the season is warm, they reach maturity a little later than tomatoes. Depending on the weather, from August through October the fruits are fully ripe when they break through the lanterns, though they can be eaten before then. Area farmer Eric Reuter said he planted some this year and plans to sell some at the Columbia Farmers Market in the coming weeks; they also are available in Mexican markets and the produce aisles in area grocery stores.

They also are easily frozen for later. You can boil them for a few minutes until they are soft, drain the water, puree them and freeze them for winter soups or tasty tomatillo enchiladas.

Meantime, make a beautiful celadon-colored tomatillo gazpacho -- sans tomatoes. We'll talk tomatoes in a minute, but this tomatillo gazpacho hits all the right notes. The sweet shrimp, combined with salty olives, are perfect in the cool tomatillo, pepper and avocado puree. For the health-conscious, this is a low-calorie, high-potassium, heart-healthy soup.

If you don't have tomatillos, there are other ways to modify a gazpacho. One way is to add a little smokiness by grilling some of the vegetables. You can use leftover grilled vegetables in the gazpacho, or start with a fresh combination of bell peppers, onion and fennel bulb.

The Grilled Gazpacho serves eight to 10, so make it for company or plan to eat gazpacho for a couple of days. I wouldn't store it much longer; the fresh summer flavors are what we love about gazpacho. Also, while some gazpachos call for tomato juice, try substituting a vegetable juice such as V-8 or Spicy V-8 to boost flavor.

Cucumber-based soups are great summer coolers. The burpless, English and lemon varieties go well in yogurt soups. Sweet Spanish smoked paprika brings boldness to a chilled cucumber soup with shrimp.

This soup can be served after it cools or allowed to mellow over a day or two. Add more wonderful shrimp flavor and keep the shrimp moist by shelling the raw shrimp first, making a stock from the shells, straining the stock from the shells and then poaching the shrimp very briefly in the stock -- until they're just turning pink throughout.

Various vinegars can work to build the depth and character of a soup. Sherry vinegar will add a complexity to the grilled gazpacho, and rice wine vinegar can mellow any bitterness in cucumber soup.

All of these soups could serve as a meal. But if it were up to me, I'd serve them with quesadillas made on the grill with some jack cheese and strips of freshly roasted poblano chiles. Add one glass of very cold fume blanc or pinot grigio, and August seems pretty cool.