One of my coworkers shared the ingredients for a soup she likes to make during the summer. The recipe was given to her by a friend many decades ago.

It is meant to be served cold and I got curious, wondering if there was a proper term for cold soup. We've all heard of Vichyssoise, a cold puree of leaks, potatoes and cream. I found there are a couple others:

• Okroshka originates from Russia and is a soup made with a mix of raw vegetables, boiled potatoes, eggs [affiliate link] and a cooked meat.
• Tarator is a Bulgarian soup made from cucumbers and yogurt.

It's made with yellow crookneck squash, onions [affiliate link], garlic and peas. It's very easy to make, and very tasty and refreshing in the hot summer. It has a slight sweet flavor to it, most likely due to the peas. Even though there is no dairy in this soup it has a wonderfully creamy mouth feel.

I hope you will get a chance to try it soon.

Yellow Crookneck Squash and Pea Soup

• 6 cups chicken stock
• 4 yellow crookneck squash, sliced in 1″ pieces
• 1 pound peas
• 1 large onion, cut into large chunks
• 6 cloves [affiliate link] garlic
• Hold back 1 or 2 handfuls of peas. Place them in the freezer.
• Place the remaining ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer.
• Cook for 20-30 minutes until all the vegetables are fork tender.
• When the vegetables are done, blend the soup. I prefer to use an immersion blender and leave small chunks of vegetables. Or you can use a regular blender and process until the soup is completely smooth.
• Refrigerate until completely chilled.
• When serving, sprinkle a few frozen peas on top. They thaw out very quickly and by the time you get one on your spoon a burst of cold sweet pea goodness pops into your mouth.
• My chicken stock typically has a lot of fat in it but once I blended the soup the fat did not rise to the top once chilled.