Chilled Avocado Lime Soup with chives and walnuts

I was so excited to see an avocado soup on the menu for the Foods from Chile event I hosted. I am rather obsessed with avocados, as most of you know by now. I have a ton of recipes on this blog that feature the amazing fruit. Apparently, Chile is the world's number two avocado producer. Who knew?

This recipe intrigued me, as it uses coconut water as a base; I always think of coconut water more as an ingredient for post-workout smoothies. But it actually worked out beautifully for this soup: the texture and flavor were amazing. And, between the coconut water and the avocados, this soup is chock full of potassium; the salt in the soup makes this an electrolyte extravaganza! I just took a kickboxing class and then had a bowl of leftover soup and I feel freakin' amazing... 

The richness of the soup is really well balanced by the acidity of the lime juice and the heat from the shallots and cayenne. One guest, who isn't a fan of raw onion, said she'd probably cut down on the shallots but I (an admitted onion lover) quite liked them. On the other hand, I really dislike cilantro—blame my genes!—so when I make this again I'll leave it out entirely. And if you're looking for a coconut flavor (which the water does not have), you might want to use coconut milk. As always, play with the recipe and make it your own...

Avocados aplenty!

Ingredients

serves 4-6

• 4 large, ripe avocados
• 1 1/2 cup coconut water (have another ½ cup in reserve)
• juice of 1 1/2 limes
• 1 cup cilantro leaves
• ½ cup roughly-chopped chives & ¼ cup chopped chives for garnish
• 1 - 2 shallots, minced
• generous pinch of cayenne pepper
• ½ cup Walnuts chopped, for garnish

Slice and pit avocados and scoop out flesh.  Place avocado, coconut water, lime juice, cilantro, ½ cup chives, shallots and cayenne pepper into a blender or food processor.  Process until smooth.  Add additional coconut water until you achieve desired soup consistency. Mine was thick but poured easily—you don't want it to be like guacamole!

Salt to taste.  Chill before serving and add walnuts and a few chives to garnish. I love chives and walnuts together, as proven in my pesto. Plus, they make this soup look so elegant and add wonderful texture.
 

I made my soup the afternoon of the party and the color stayed a lovely, bright green.  If you make it the day before, the avocado may have a darker color; even my leftovers stayed pretty green, though.

One of the guests getting ready to tweet about the soup!

This soup was one of the most popular dishes of the dinner party. It was real hit and I will definitely make it again.

Try this Clementine Lime Water as a drink with your soup!

Here's my recap of the dinner. For more recipes from the fabulous meal, check out Endive Salad with Raspberries, Clementines, and Goat Cheese; Almond-Crusted Salmon; and Cherry Berry Crisp.

For more information on Foods from Chile, go to Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Use #FoodsFromChile and #NowInSeason to check out the pictures and posts about this nationwide dinner party event on Twitter.