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A steamy hot soup fills your stomach in the frigid winter months making you feel all warm and cozy inside, helping you thaw both inside and out. Imagine the same feeling of temperature extremes, of being hot, possibly sticky, and dripping in sweat as you endure the heat of summer - you can even see the heat vapor coming up off the hot tarmac like flames of fire. A chilled soup will cool your body down, it will enliven and energize you, or your passengers and flight crew. So let’s Indulge . . .
I like to think it is because we see all of the new colors of spring and summer bloom, of fruits and vegetables dripping on vines and tree limbs that entice us to crave these foods. We tend to steer toward salads, less filling cold meals or simply smaller portions . . . they are light, refreshing, and essentially ready to serve offering a cooling sensation for the body. One of the most memorable summer salads I ate as a child impressed me so because I was offered a chilled salad fork with which to eat it. I don’t remember the salad, but I do remember the waitress presenting me with an icy cold fork and the salad served on a frosty cold plate. You can make the same memorable service on board by placing the utensils in the dirty ice drawer contained in a sealing plastic bag and the plates held the same way. Temperature is one of the basic elements of creating a memorable food presentation. (To refresh your memory from a past article; color, texture, temperature, shape, size and the aviation crunch are the elements which create memorable meals). For years I thought summer soups were like consuming a sweet concoction of melons and berries - more like a dessert. Of course, I was aware of gazpacho and vichyssoise, but considered them an anomaly, associating summer soups with fruits. I didn’t focus on cold soups until smoothies were hitting the market. Actually if you think about it a smoothie is nothing more than a chilled cold soup. I thought it would be fun to introduce you to some wonderful summer soups that can be served as a smoothie, a soup shot, or presented in a wine glass, tumbler or mug like a hot soup might be served, or just the old fashioned way in a bowl. I want to show you cold soups at their best for the aircraft, from entrée soups to those soups I list under desserts because of their sweetness.
In a recent study published in Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases, study authors examined the health benefits of eating gazpacho. According to the study, “Approximately 25 percent of adults have high blood pressure. However, regular consumption of gazpacho lowered their blood pressure significantly.” The same study also showed that gazpacho contains carotenoids. “These are important in eye health and also carry anti-inflammatory characteristics. Lutein is a carotenoid with anti-inflammatory agents. Spinach, kale, kiwi and oranges all have high amounts of lutein. Zeaxanthin is another carotenoids that may help prevent eye damage, such as cataracts and other diseases that damage the eye. Green leafy vegetables like kale and spinach have high amounts of this carotenoid antioxidant. Eating foods rich in antioxidants can be beneficial in protecting you from potentially developing cancer and also are known for their anti-aging effects. A nutrient-rich, satisfying salad-in-a-glass, cool and complex gazpachos blend the taste of vegetables, spices, and herbs.“ So, may I ask . . . what are you waiting for? Classic gazpacho is tomato based; tomatoes, olive oil, cucumbers, red bell peppers, onions and garlic, sometimes a bit of bread as a thickener, but creative chefs now use multiple other bases for this soup. Be aware that bread, thus wheat and gluten might be used in some recipes . . . always inquire about food allergens. If your passenger likes mango, try a mango gazpacho, if they love kiwi then try a kiwi base, or watermelon, peach and even spinach and so on. You and your culinary teams around the world are only limited by imagination and passenger and flight crew preferences. So, when ordering, if you have a preference to the base vegetable or fruit and the finished texture, discuss this with your food source and inquire as to what they prepare. (I can’t resist a bit of trivia for you: Did you know gazpacho originally came from the Andalusia region of Spain?) Gazpacho can be vegan, vegetarian or garnished with shrimps, and crabmeat to name a few. I’d like to think of it as my healthy, low fat, low calorie super festive veggie packed meal! When you think of gazpacho, think of a party for your taste buds. Other cold soup suggestions Now, about that vichyssoise. It’s simple, it’s pure, it’s one of the all-time great French dishes that isn’t actually French (sad but true). It is a creation filled with bits of heaven offering an awesome delight of unbelievable pleasure. Sounds sinuous, doesn’t it? I bet you might try it now?
For me, Vichyssoise is just that, I associate it with an elegant dinner event, a special occasion. The base ingredients are potatoes and leeks. But it too is the base for so many other satisfying cold soup creations; a grilled corn and leek soup, chilled spiced carrot soups including one of my favorites, a ginger and carrot soup. These blended soups are elegant enough to serve not only as meals but also as a preboard aperitif to refresh your passengers as they board. Present them next to a cold minted towel. You can serve them in a shot glass or espresso cup . . . even a wine glass. Try varying your ingredients with this style of cream or yogurt based soups, fresh peas, any number of fresh greens, legumes, grains, herbs and spices. Vichyssoise is heavenly. The texture is silky and one your passengers will love. According to the reference books, “Vichyssoise was invented in 1917 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in New York City. Chef Louis Diat liked to create a new hot-weather recipe every summer, and that year he thought about the leek-and-potato soup his mother used to serve when he was growing up in Bourbon-l’Archambault, about 40 miles from the town of Vichy. When she served leftover soup, she would thin it out with cream." And not to forget borchet, a chilled tortilla soup, an avocado and cucumber soup.
Step outside the box and try making a cold soup a wonderful summer meal. Pick your favorite flavors, add any protein - chicken, shrimp, beef, duck, fish - and create a memorable meal filled to the rim with beautiful colors, textures and jump off the charts flavors of summer.
Let me introduce myself . . . My name is Paula Kraft and I am founder and President of Tastefully Yours Catering, an aviation specific caterer, located in Atlanta, Georgia for over 35 years.
Currently I am an active member of the NBAA Flight Attendant Committee Advisory Board and the NBAA International Flight Attendant Committee, Women in Corporate Aviation, Women in Aviation International, National Association of Catering Executives, International Flight Catering Association, the International Food Service Association and the International Caterer’s Association. I have coordinated training programs and clinics for NBAA, EBAA and BA-Meetup conference attendees for over 10 years, created mentoring programs for caterers and flight attendants to broaden their aviation culinary skills, and to assist them in adapting to the unique challenges and constraints found in catering for general aviation. I recognize the need for training and have worked closely with flight departments, flight crews, schedulers and customer service reps at the FBOs to ensure that catering specific training provides information and skills necessary to reduce risk while assisting them in their job duties that include safe food handling, catering security, accurate transmission of food orders, and safe food production, packaging and delivery. I fell into aviation catering quite by accident. I was the in-house caterer and bakery supplier for Macy’s department stores in Atlanta when catering was ordered for a Macy’s customer which was soon to change my life. After the client enjoyed the catering provided, I was summoned to the client’s corporate office to provide several of the items delivered through Macy’s to the executive dining room. Within a week, I was providing food for the flight department and my first order was for the President of a foreign country (as I was too be told soon after). So, here I am, some 35 years later, still loving every minute of every day in aviation catering.
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