Pot Luck Dinner and a Great New Summer Soup

 I belong to two book clubs, one of them consisting of people in my condo community.  We read a wide variety of books, best sellers, classics (occasionally), books recommended by others, but NOT "Fifty Shades of Gray".  Three years ago we started the tradition of reading a memoir for the June meeting that had recipes included and then having a potluck dinner at my house using recipes from the book. That first book was Linda Ellerbee's "Take Big Bites" about her travels alone through the world and her love of cooking and trying new recipes.  We all loved the book.  It was very witty, fun to read and the recipes were very doable.  I made her Tomato/Watermelon cold soup that year and it was a big hit.  So this year, even though it wasn't in our current book, I made it again.

It was a perfect weather day, although they said we might have spot showers in the evening.  Our meeting was at 6PM.  I crossed my fingers and held off putting the tablecloths on until 5, but the weather held and it was delightful the whole evening, not too hot, not too humid, a very slight breeze.

Even the flowers cooperated.  This has been a good year for annuals and I have several groupings around the deck.  Those pretty blue flowers at the back are Scaevola

I used to put begonias in my strawberry jar, but decided to do succulents instead this year and I love it. 

So here's the soup.  Don't be put off by the seemingly strange combination of ingredients.  Trust me, it's delicious and I have nine other people to back me up.  It's not as easy as the Cucumber/Avocado/Yogurt Soup I showed you the other day, but it's worth the extra effort.  I changed the recipe slightly to make it more heart healthy.

Cold Cream of Tomato/Watermelon Soup

2 (28 oz) cans of whole Italian tomatoes 

1 1/2 T brown sugar                                         

4 T butter

4 large shallots, chopped                                   

1 T tomato paste

2 T flour

2 cups chicken broth

1 (12 oz.) can evaporated skim milk

1 quart chopped seedless watermelon

1. Spread the tomatoes on a cookie sheet, reserving the liquid, sprinkle with the brown sugar and put in    450 oven.  Bake for 20 min then set aside in a bowl. This makes a mess of your cookie sheet, so be sure to line it with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

2.  Heat the butter in a saucepan on low.  Add shallots and tomato paste, cover and cook until shallots are soft, stirring occasionally. Add the flour and whisk until all is combined. Whisk in the chicken broth, the juice from the tomato cans and the roasted tomatoes.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Use your immersion blender stick (or do in batches in regular blender) to puree, then stir in evaporated milk.  Let cool to room temperature and chill in refrigerator, preferably overnight. 

3.  The next day add the watermelon chunks and puree again.  Serve it ice cold.

This year's June book was "The Sharper the Knife, the Less You Cry" by Kathleen Flinn.  It is her memoir of her time spent at the Cordon Bleu in Paris. There is a recipe at each chapter's end, but they were all very complicated and several pages long. We decided that people should just make whatever they wanted and we did have a lovely feast.