COCONUT AND TROPICAL FRUIT SOUP (for six)

“This is one of my summer favorites – a sort of tropical fruit salad surrounded with a pina-colada like mixture of pineapple and chilled coconut milk.  The choice of fruits for the salad is up to you; I end up buying what I can find that looks ripe.  If you have trouble finding tropical fruits, this soup is still delicious when made with just bananas and pineapples.

To make the pineapple-coconut broth, you’ll need a cup of pineapple wedges.  You can use canned pineapple, but I always prefer to cut up a whole pineapple and use some of the wedges for the broth and some for the salad.”   James Peterson

For the pina colada broth:

1-1/2 cups coconut milk

1 cup fresh pineapple wedges

a shot of rum (optional)

For the fruit salad:

4 of the following fruits (if you use more or fewer of the varieties listed, adjust the quantities accordingly)

bananas:  2 large bananas, sliced within an hour of serving

pineapple: 1 pineapple, peeled, core removed, cut into ¼ inch thick wedges, with 1 cup reserved for the broth

kiwifruit:  2 kiwifruits, peeled and sliced

papaya:  1 Hawaiian papaya, peeled, seeded and cut sideways into crescent shapes

mango:  1 mango, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks

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1.   Prepare the broth:  Puree the pineapple wedges in a blender with the coconut milk for about 1 minute.  Reserve, covered, in the refrigerator.

2.   Present the soup:   Ladle the broth into each bowl and arrange the fruits on top.  The tropical fruits make this a very colorful soup but, if you like, decorate each bowl with a mint leaf and a pinch of shredded coconut.

NOTE: I sometimes flavor the coconut milk with ground spices such as ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon or saffron.  You can also make this into ice cream:  flavor 3 cups of coconut milk with ½ teaspoon ground cardamom and ¼ teaspoon saffron.  Let the spices sit in the coconut milk for 30 minutes before freezing.

from James Petersen, Splendid Soups