Meggyleves...cold sour cherry soup

Wouldn't it be nice if you didn't have to worry about heating up a soup or having a soup go cold before you serve it. Well, here is the answer... cold sour cherry soup.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 jars pitted sour cherries
    (796 mL/28 oz./jar)
  • 8-10 fresh whole cloves
  • 1 lemon
  • 5-10 tbsp of sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 stick of cinnamon
  • 3-4 tbsp of flour
  • 250 mL sour cream(Light or Heavy)
  • 1 fresh unbroken egg

    Optional

    • whipped cream
    • chopped almonds

    • Purchasing Tips

    You can purchase red sour cherries in most A&P's in Canada. They are a product of either Hungary or Slovakia. Price as purchased was $4.99 (Can.) per jar. look for them in the DELI section. Alternately, look for these in European delicatasen stores.

    Preparation

    1. Drain the liquid from both jars of cherries into a large measuring cup (2 L). Reserve the cherries. Then add cold water to make a volume of 1.5 L. Place this into a medium sized cooking pot.
    2. Peel strips about the size of your 'pinky' finger from the lemon. This should give you about 3-4 strips. Fold each of them over and poke small holes through them and use the cloves to fasten them together. Squeeze the juice from the lemon and filter it.
    3. Add the lemon juice, lemon peel with cloves, the cinnamon stick, a pinch of salt, the unopened fresh egg and about 5 tbsp of sugar to the juice in the pot.
    4. Bring this to a boil. Taste for tartness. Add more sugar if it is too tart. (There should be a little tartness). Boil this in an open pot for about 5-10 minutes.
    5. While this is boiling, in a large bowl, stir about 4 tbsp of flour into the 250 mL of sour cream until it's smooth. ( Best to use a wire wisk for this step and the next!)
    6. Add the boiling liquid using a soup ladel to the sour cream/flour mixture, whipping it smooth with each addition of hot liquid until you have added almost all of the liquid. (IMPORTANT: this is how you avoid clumping!). Place all of the mixture back in the cooking pot and stir it. It should be smooth with no lumps.
    7. Now add the reserved sour cherries.
    8. Heat for 5 minutes on a low heat.
    9. Now, cool the soup! Place it outside (if it is cold enough) or in a refridgerator for 2-3 hours.
    10. The soup should be served cold (but NOT frozen) (It will be quite thick until you stir it a little.) Remove the lemon peels and cloves, cinnamon stick and the egg.

    Serving:

    Ladel the soup into regular soup bowls and optionally garnish with a ring of whipped cream sprinkled with chopped almonds for best results. CAUTION: The manufacturer of the cherries notes that there may be some cherry pits in the product. This is usual. So warn your guests ahead of time.
    P.S. The egg will be hard boiled and can be eaten anytime.
    TRANSLATED, TESTED and updated by TOM Dec. 2001