COLD TOMATO SOUP WITH A SURPRISE

When I was designing furniture, particularly pull-up chairs, I was always looking for some feature I could design into the product that the user would experience without expecting it, what I called a surprise, or the Aha Phenomenon. One of my favorites was running a groove under the inside of the arm so that it would hold the thumb nicely when the user grabbed the arm. Tranferring that to food, here's a soup with that same quality, a surprise lurking in the bottom of the bowl. Your guests may ask, "What's this?" The surprise will give them that aha feeling. The recipe comes from Jean Georges Vongerichten

COLD TOMATO SOUP WITH CUCUMBER AND CANTALOUPE

serves 4

2 lb tomatoes (in winter, use plum ones, or grape ones)

2 garlic cloves, minced

6 fresh basil leaves (now available in most grocery stores year-round)

5 T extra virgin olive oil

2 T red wine vinegar

1/4 t sugar

salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper

1 cucumber, peeled, halved and seeded

cantaloupe, watermelon or honeydew melon

chopped fresh basil

1. Core the tomatoes and chop them roughlly, combining them in a suacepan with their seeds and juice, along with the garlic, basil leaves, oil, vinegar, sugar and a pinch of salt and about 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Heat to about 150 degrees (you can use an instant read thermometer)...hot, but well below the boiling point.

2. Remove from the heat and strain through a seive to remove the seeds and skins. Cool either over a bowl of ice water or in the refrigerator. Taste and adjust the seasonings as necessary.

3. When ready to eat, use the small end of a melon baller to scoop about 40 tiny balls from the cucumber and melon. Or, if you don't have a melon baller, you can dice the cucumber and melon. Divide the cucumber and melon balls among 4 bowls and pour the soup over them. Garnish with chopped basil.

Note: prepare the cucumber by first peeling it with a vegetable peeler. Then cut it in half longitudinally. Use a spoon to scoop out the bed of seeds.

To make ahead: prepare the soup and the cucumber and melon balls and refrigerate. Add the cucumber and melon, and the basil garnish, just before serving.