Choosing wine to add to a cold dish is very different than cooking with wine in pasta. I have never seen a chilled soup with wine in it before this recipe, and I was definitely intrigued.

To add a bit of understated pizazz to your meal, this is a great way to go. You can even serve it as dessert with some amaretti (almond) cookies on the side.

Serves: 8

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes (+ 2 hours to chill the soup before serving)

Adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients

• 6 pound seedless watermelon
• 1 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 handful mint leaves
• 1 cup Moscato, Riesling, Dolcetto, or Brachetto wine
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• crumbled goat cheese
• freshly ground pepper
• sugar

Method

1. Cut the flesh out of the watermelon and chop roughly.
2. Remove one hand of watermelon, dice, and set aside.
3. Add the rest of the chopped watermelon to the blender with the lime juice and wine.
4. Peel the ginger and chop it finely.
5. Add the chopped ginger to the blender with 1 tablespoon pepper and 1 tablespoon sugar.
6. Blend throughly and set in the fridge to chill for at least two hours.
7. BONUS: pour some of the mixture into an ice cube tray and set in the freezer.
8. Finely chop the mint and add to the diced watermelon along with I tablespoon of sugar.
9. Mix and chill in the fridge.
10. When ready to serve, either offer the soup and topping (watermelon with mint, with three tablespoons crumbled goat cheese mixed in) on the table, or fill a bowl for each guest, and top with 3 ice cubes (if using), a spoon of the watermelon/mint mixture and a spoon of goat cheese.
11. Enjoy!

Looking for other ways to infuse some liquid luxury into your meal? Serve this in a trio with gazpacho and cucumber yogurt soup.