Fresh Cherry Soup with Cool Mint

By SippitySup

This recipe comes to me from Joel Robuchon as interpreted by Patricia Wells and reinterpreted by me. It's as fresh as a late spring afternoon and best enjoyed soon after making it.

Ingredients

• 1 bottle fruity red wine with a nice tannic quality
• 1/2-cup confectioners sugar
• 1 maybe a scant 2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
• 2 pounds cherries, left whole with pits in tact
• 10 or 12 four-inch sprigs of peppermint stems and leaves, tied in a bundle
• Extra mint leaves as garnish (optional)

Preparation

Step 1

In a very large saucepan, bring the wine to gentle simmer over medium heat. Simmer until reduced by half, about 30 minutes. Try and accomplish this with out boiling the wine.

Add the sugar and the cornstarch slurry then whisk the mixture constantly for about 1 minute.

Raise the heat to medium high, and add the cherries. When the liquid is just beginning to think about boiling remove the pan from the heat.

Once you are confident all the sugar has dissolved taste the soup with a metal spoon. It should just coat the spoon and have a velvety texture. Do not let it get too thick. Because it will thicken a bit more as it cools.

When you are happy with the texture add the bundle of mint and cover the pan. Set it aside to infuse for about 30 minutes.

Remove the mint bundle and discard it. The soup should be close room temperature now. Slightly warm is fine, but you do not want it to be hot.

Ladle the soup into shallow soup bowls, dividing the cherries equally among each bowl. Garnish the soup with more mint if desired.

This soup does not hold well and should be eaten within 2 hours of making it.