You can’t stand the heat, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay out of the kitchen. Chef Michel Richard has given us his recipe for a cool summer soup that will have you chilled out in no time.

Michel Richard’s Cold Cherry Soup

Serves four

Ingredients:
10 oz. bing cherries, pitted
8 oz. white pearl onions, peeled and chopped
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp. sugar
1/8 small jalapeno, seedless, cut into small pieces (wear gloves or be extra careful)
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2½ cups red wine (syrah)
Salt
1 cup jicama, diced into ½-inch pieces
1 lemon, juiced
1 orange separated into segments
Sour cream

1. Mix half of the cherries with the onions, bay leaves, sugar, jalapenos, vinegar, and red wine in a pot. Bring to a slow simmer for a half hour. Strain and season with salt. Transfer to a bowl and chill until very cold (a few hours).
2. Squeeze lemon juice over the diced jicama. Allow to sit for a half hour.
3. Strain the jicama. Cut the remaining cherries in half. Place the jicama in the soup bowls along with the remaining cherries and orange segments.
4. Ladle the soup into the bowls. Top with a dollop of sour cream.

For once, the cherry’s not on top.

Try more of Michel Richard’s dishes at Michel Richard Citronelle, 3000 M Street NW, at 30th Street (202-625-2150); Central Michel Richard, 1001 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, at 11th Street (202-626-0015). Find more recipes in his cookbook, Happy in the Kitchen, available online at amazon.com.