Does anyone remember the much-missed Gay Hussar restaurant in Soho? I used to absolutely love it when I first came to London, shelling out on the goose stews and creamy livers and tart wines for a once-in-a-blue-moon treat.
Anyway, this is a throwback to their chilled cherry soup, somewhere between a lunch, a smoothie and a dessert. It's tart, tingly and vodka-spiked, what's not to like?
I’ve also been fantasising about serving this warm, swapping the vodka for a brandy or Cointreau, and losing the sour cream in flavour of floating scoops of vanilla ice cream, melting into the cherries…
Serves 2.
250g cherries, pitted and halved
Juice of ½ lemon
120g sour cream
80ml vodka
50g dill, chopped
1 cinnamon stick
Pinch of salt
In a medium saucepan, cover the cherries with water and bring to a simmer with the lemon juice, vodka, cinnamon stick, a pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper.
After about 10-15 minutes, leave to cool for 5 minutes.
Blend with 90g of the sour cream. Taste for seasoning.
Chill and serve with blobs of sour cream, lots of black pepper and the dill.