I love a theme. It makes table and menu planning so simple! Summer Berries was the obvious theme for this luncheon. The beautiful plates I found at a local thrift store began the beautiful story! I just took it from there and looked for recipes that featured different types of summer fruit, particularly berries.
Watermelon gazpacho sounds so fancy, right? Gazpacho just means a cold soup made of fresh vegetables, or in this case, fruit. It was so simple to make ahead. While this luncheon was in July, it was held in the cool comfort of my air-conditioned home. But I can imagine how refreshing this soup would be for an alfresco party! Plan to make this a day ahead and keep it in the fridge for a fast and easy first course.
Watermelon Gazpacho
4 cups red watermelon (seeds removed)
2 cups strawberries, stemmed and sliced
1 cucumber, peeled and rough chopped
zest from one lime
juice from one lime
1 tsp finely minced fresh jalapeno (optional)
1/2 cup full fat coconut milk, plus extra for drizzle
balsamic vinegar
Himalayan pink sea salt (4 turns or to taste)
drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil
fresh craked pepper
fresh basil leaves
Add chopped fruits and veggies, plus other ingredients through olive oil to a blender, working in batches, if necessary. Blend until smooth. Place in covered bowl and put in fridge to chill at least 30 minutes or overnight. Stir well before putting in bowls. Remove any foam. Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle lightly with pepper. Put extra coconut milk in a squeeze bottle and gently swirl on top of soup so it doesn't sink. Garnish with basil leaves. Serve immediately. (Note - jalapeno is optional, but I suggest that you use it. It helps to add to the freshness of the cucumbers. It's not hot at all! Just be sure to remove the seeds before mincing.)
Herbed Puff Pastry Sticks
1 sheet puffed pastry, thawed
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp dried Italian seasoning
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 400 degrees with the oven rack in the top third. Line a rimmed sheet with parchment paper. On a large surface, unfold pastry and brush both sides with butter. Sprinkle Italian seasoning and cheese evenly on one side. Using a pizza cutter, cut pastry into about 1" wide strips. Twist strips and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes then flip the sticks and bake for 5 minutes more or until golden brown. Allow to cool before serving. Once cool, these can be stored in an air-tight container for two days.
This cold soup and breadsticks made a delicious starter for our Berry-inspired meal! I can't wait to make this again this summer!
I'm so glad you stopped by my neck of the woods!
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***All pictures are original and are the property of Missy Hilyer Jones. Please do not use without giving proper credit to me and the blog post they were originally used in. Thanks!
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