Chilled Peach Soup with Pickled Cherries

Preparation

1. Pickle the cherries (or berries of choice): Combine all ingredients but cherries in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and discard bayleaf, peppercorn, and garlic once cool. Place cherries in a jar and cover with pickle juice. This can be made a few days in advance. Use leftover pickle juice as you wish. It’s always good to have pickle juice on hand. 
2. Make the soup: Preheat oven to 400°F. In a roasting pan, pour ½ cup olive oil over peaches, and place in the oven for 30 minutes or until the peach skins are blackened and the flesh of the peaches is soft enough to break apart easily with a spoon. Allow peaches to cool completely before blending.
3. Once cool, remove pits and blackened skin from peaches. Reserve oil and juices released during roasting. Using a high-speed blender, puree peaches, olive oil, onion, vinegar, ginger, paprika, and salt, adding water as needed, a tablespoon at a time. The soup should pour smoothly from the container when the proper consistency is reached. Optionally, pass mixture through a fine mesh strainer to improve texture. Chill soup and season with salt and vinegar to taste once completely cool.