Summer is upon us, and slaving over a hot stove can lose its lustre when blue skies beckon.  We’ve riffled through our recipe files to present a collection of rather simply prepared soups, some hot, some cold, most with little fuss required.

Our first offering is best served very chilled:

  Clam Bisque

 1 10-12 oz. can of Clams
 1 cup Whipping Cream 
 ½ tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
 4 good squirts, original Tabasco Sauce
 1/8 tsp. fresh ground Black Pepper
 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh Chives
 Salt to taste

Place clams and their juice in a blender, cover and blend ‘til smooth.  Add cream, worcestershire, Tabasco, pepper and salt and blend again.  Serve ice cold from the fridge, sprinkling each bowl with chives…serves 4.

While we’re on the subject of bisques…a French word denoting a thick, creamy soup…we love to accompany our cracked fresh Dungeness Crab with this hot concoction:

  Cracked Crab Bisque

Shell one 2-2 ½ lb. Dungeness Crab
¼ cup Unsalted Butter
1 cup Whipping Cream
¼ cup Cognac or good Scotch
1 qt. 5% Milk
1/8 tsp. White Pepper
Salt to taste
¼ cup chopped Parsley

Set shelled crab meat aside while you gently melt butter in a large saucepan.  Stir in crab meat, cream and whisk over medium heat ‘til hot, but don’t allow to boil.  Stir in the milk, season to taste w/salt & pepper, heat ‘til steaming (but not boiling), serve in bowls sprinkled with parsley.  Generous amount for 4 folk.

Now that our Farmer’s Markets are in full bloom, you can find fresh wild mushrooms for the following soup…we prefer Morels, but any wild fungi will do.  This again utilizes a goodly portion of Dungeness Crab and the recipe is a concentrated taste of the Pacific Northwest.

  Sinful Soup

 ½ lb. Wild Mushrooms, sliced
 1 Egg Yolk
 ½ cup chopped fresh Chives
 3 tbsp. Flour
 ½ lb. Dungeness Crab meat
 1/8 lb. Unsalted Butter
 4 cups Chicken Broth

This is a rich soup and the recipe will serve eight.  Saute’ mushrooms in butter on low heat, stirring ‘til their gently browned, set aside.  Mix flour and the butter left in the mushroom pan to form a paste, then place all ingredients except the chicken broth in a blender and puree.  Place this mixture in a saucepan, stir in chicken broth a little bit at a time as your soup comes to a simmer, salt to taste.  Sprinkle chives on each serving bowl.

We said we’d keep this simple, and here’s as easy as Tomato Soup can get without opening a can (and this is better than any tinned product available).  My wife whips this together in just five minutes.

  Marlene’s Tomato Easy

 1 32 oz. can crushed Tomatoes
 2 tbsp. Unsalted Butter
 1 tsp. dried Dill Weed
 1 lg. Onion, finely chopped
 ½ tsp. Baking Soda
 2 cups Half & Half

Saute’ onion in butter until soft, set aside.  Pour tomato can contents into a large saucepan, add onions, stir in dill, baking soda, ½ & ½ and add salt & pepper to taste, while warming gently to a simmer.  Enough for 4-6 people.

Summer weather demands that traditional Spanish soup, Gazpacho.  Usually prepared as a tomato-colored broth, but the following delicious digression was dreamed up by our daughter:

  Tiffany’s White Gazpacho

 3 peeled Garlic cloves
 3 cups Chicken Broth
 3 Cucumbers, peeled & seeded
 3 cups Sour Cream
 3 chopped Tomatillos (those hard little husk-covered tomatoes of Mexican fame)

Blend cucumbers, tomatillos and garlic into a smooth puree, stir in chicken broth slowly, then stir in sour cream and chill the mixture until ready to serve very cold, with sides of chopped tomato, chopped avocado, thinly sliced white onion and bacon bits.

©2002 Oregon Magazine