Chilled pineapple and cucumber soup with a garlic, basil and brazilian nut pesto

Ingredients

• For the soup
• 1/2 ripe pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into pieces
• 2 cucumbers, ends cut off, washed, peeled and cut into pieces
• 1/2 shallot, peeled and chopped
• 2 handfuls of almonds, peeled and soaked for 1 hour
• juice of 1 lemon
• 3 teaspoons agave syrup
• 3 cm fresh ginger root, peeled
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (and some more for the garnish)
• 1/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered coriander seeds
• a pinch of ground white pepper
• a pinch of chilli powder (and some more to garnish, if desired)
• 1 cup of natural mineral or filtered water, chilled
• For the pesto
• 3 handfuls of Brazilian nuts
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 4 large handfuls of fresh basil
• whole sea salt, just enough to taste
• zest of 1 lemon
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• natural mineral or filtered water, just enough to reach the right texture

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Preparation

• Place all the soup ingredients in the bowl of a food processor or blender and purée. You can add some more water if necessary. Once you finish processing, let the soup cool completely (freeze for the first 30 minutes then transfer into the fridge for another 30 minutes). In the meantime, you can prepare the pesto.
• Coarsely chop the nuts in a food processor or coffee grinder. Peel and mince the garlic. Wash the basil leaves and break them with your fingers.
• Place the nuts and garlic in a (preferably marble) mortar and pound briefly with the pestle. Add the basil, salt and lemon zest and pound a bit more.
• Slowly pour the olive oil while you keep stirring with the pestle, then add the water, little by little, until you get to the right texture (it should still be a bit chunky to better complement the very light consistency of the soup).
• If you don’t have a mortar, you can use a food processor to make the pesto but be careful not to overprocess and overheat the mixture, which would lose both colour and taste.
• However, the best option is to use a mortar and pestle method. As soon as the soup is completely chilled, divide it into individual serving cups and top with a dollop of pesto.
• Sprinkle over a little chilli powder, finish with another little drizzle of olive oil if desired and serve.