I recently sat down with Elizabeth Gilbert to discuss the new movie coming out based on her best-selling book,Eat, Pray, Love. Once she found out that I was a soup-maker, she felt free to tell me the REAL story of her book. Basically what happened was that she stumbled upon this amazing gazpacho recipe that was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. You take blanched almonds and puree them together with sweet, juicy honeydew, freshly baked bread, a bit of garlic, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar and VOILA – addictive gazpacho. “This isn’t salad in a bowl, like regular gazpacho,” she confided in me. “It’s so naturally sweet – but complex because of the almonds and bread. Plus – a gazpacho that is rich in vitamin C and has protein! I mean, it’s perfect!!” Long story short – she developed an addiction. At first she started covering it up by throwing honeydew gazpacho parties. But then she couldn’t bear to share it with anyone. Her blender broke and she would just stab at the bowl with a fork. Her husband left her because he couldn’t bear to compete for her attention with a seasonal melon. In order to break her addiction she went to meditate in India and then fell in love in Fiji. To this day, every time she strolls through the farmers market in August, she breaks out in a cold sweat near the melons. Yikes!
Ingredients (in no particular order): honeydew, almonds, country bread, garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt
Soup type: Cold, Pureed
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I didn’t like this soup — too much honeydew and not enough flavor from almonds and garlic. It sounded so interesting I had to try it, but wish I had ordered a pint instead of a quart!
Ok so im thinking and im thinking. Do I like this soup? As I get through my cup, I keep asking myself if I like it. And the answer is: I like it. I think.
I agree with Kirsten that the dominant flavor is honeydew melon. Ok, perhaps that is the only flavor. I agree that the almonds, garlic, balsamic, and other savory flavors could be ramped up a bit to tone down that sweet tinge of the melon. That said, I like honeydew melon and therefore I liked this soup. I think.
I was able to cruble some Terra chips into the soup and that was a really yummy addition (though I realize not something everyone has within reach).
Well, at first I thought it would be a dinner soup but I found that it works better as a dessert soup. A wonderful fruity ending to a meal that has a nice clean and light taste…not sure if I taste the bread or garlic or balsamic…just lots of yummy honeydew studded with blanched almonds. If you drizzle some balsamic vinegar and toss in some salty marcona almonds, it really amps up the soup on your taste buds! Ciao!
I completely agree with Kirsten. With more of the savory flavors it would have been better. I took about 5 spoonfuls before I could decide that I did not actually like it.
at first I didn’t like it, but it grew on me (in a good way)…i don’t think I’d like more garlic, as it woudl overwhelm the delicate honeydew, but more balsamic and even more almonds might just address some of the concerns re it being too sweet. Stil, I’d order it again , though it would not be in my top 25.
I agree with Amy. Wasn’t thrilled with this for dinner, or as an accompaniment to dinner. A little too bland for me. But her idea to use it as a dessert soup – with some good balsamic drizzled in and those awesome marcona almonds – really is a great one. I bet I’d love it that way!
I’m surprised by the lower reviews on this one. I thought this soup was awesome and since it was so light I could justify eating the whole quart in one sitting :-P