Green for St. Patrick's Day: Chilled Avocado Soup

St. Patrick's Day is pretty set when it comes to food in my house.  Thatboy isn't happy unless he has his corned beef for dinner.  And I made the mistake of giving the kids Lucky Charms for breakfast ONE YEAR and now it's become a whole thing. 

But that leaves lunch wide open.  Well for the grownups anyway.  Thatbaby has lunch made for him at preschool, and Thatkid is in charge of making his own lunch.  The good news about that is I can make things to eat that the kids wouldn't necessarily enjoy.

I learned my lesson the hard way that the kids don't like chilled soups.  I made a chilled pea soup and while they liked the flavor (since they love peas) they were highly unimpressed by the lack of warmth in the soup.  Which is fine, because as the weather warms up, a chilled soup makes a better lunch than dinner anyway.  Something very light and springy - and the green color is appropriate for both the upcoming season as well as St. Patrick's Day.

I don't think of avocado as having an especially strong flavor, so it's especially lovely with a little citrus and cream.

Chilled Avocado Soup

1 cup avocado

1 cup chicken broth

1 Tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped

1/4 tsp hot sauce (I used Green Dragon - to keep it as green as possible)

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup sour cream

1. Puree avocado in the food processor.
2. Heat the chicken broth in a small saucepan.  Press the pureed avocado through a mess strainer to remove any larger lumps and combine with the warmed chicken broth.  
3. Add the tarragon, hot sauce, and lemon juice and stir until combined.  Chill until cold.
4. Add the heavy cream and sour cream and chill until ready to serve.