Cantaloupe soup with chives

We tend to blow out the cooking on one major meal per week. The rest of the nights are pretty simple recipes that have fallen into our "go to" file for quick fixes.

But last night was a blow-out night. The clock was ticking on some produce bought Saturday at the market. We had a bunch of veggies and fruit, but no standard starch to act as a foundation. Not that you always need a starch, but I wasn't in the mood for a standard stir-fry.

So we made cantaloupe soup with fresh chives as the appetizer, and a mushroom, basil and red wine sauce served over sweet white corn cut off the cob. We paired this with a bottle of Jack Merlot, which wasn't too bad for only $7!

Cantaloupe soup for 2:

• Slice one half of a ripe cantaloupe into chunks.
• Puree in a food processor with a splash of lime juice until all lumps have disappeared.
• Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
• Serve chilled with minced chives and ground pepper sprinkled on top.

Goes great with French bread for dipping! I loved the final result. The soup was so light and fresh, and not too sweet with the pepper and chives on top to add some contrasting flavors.

Maybe next time I puree cantaloupe, I'll add a little milk and make a milkshake. I could also picture adding green peppers and maybe even tiny diced tomatoes to the cantaloupe soup to make it a more formal evening course.