To make the soup: Combine the avocado, cilantro, serrano chilies and 1-1/2 cups of the chicken stock in blender. Process until mixture is very smooth. Transfer to a medium-sized bowl and whisk in the remaining chicken stock, buttermilk and lime juice. Add salt to taste and whisk to blend well. Taste for seasoning, adding additional salt if the soup tastes "flat" and boring. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled before serving.

To make the lime and Chili Tortilla Strips:

Remove the seeds from the pasilla chilies and toast them in a dry cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until they are very crispy. Do not burn the chilies. Grind the chilies to a powder in a spice mill or coffee grinder. Toss the chili powder with some of the lime salt in a small bowl, blending well.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Spray tortillas lightly w/ oil and sprinkle with chile-salt-lime and styack them together. Cut the stack in app inch strips (or wedges if you prefer). Scatter the strips on a cookie sheet. Re-sprinkle if needed then bake them for about 10 minutes until lightly browned. Remove and allow to cool. Store in container with tight-fitting lid until ready to use.

To make the Tiny Dice Pico de Gallo:Combine all ingredients except salt in a small bowl and toss to blend well. Season to taste with the salt and refrigerate until ready to use.

To serve: Ladle a portion of the soup into each soup plate, then top with a dollop of sour cream. Nest a bunch of the Lime and Chili Tortilla Strips on the sour cream, then scatter some of the chopped cilantro and Tiny Dice Pico De Gallo over the tortilla strips.

Serves 8 to 10.

Adapted from a recipe by: Chef Terry Anderson

Terry's Notes:

This great chilled soup tastes like the very essence of summer in Texas. It''''s sultry and spicy, smooth with crispy highlights, and it will make you feel good - just like summer in Texas. When choosing avocados for this soup be sure to purchase the small Haas avocados with dark, bumpy skins. The avocados should never be hard, but should yield slightly to the touch. Reject those that are very soft and squishy.

There is an art to seasoning foods which will be served cold, such as this soup. Cold dulls the senses of hot, sweet, salty and spicy on our tongues. Therefore, you should slightly over-season foods that will be served cold, or they will taste very bland once they have been refrigerated. After the food has been chilled it is very hard to adjust the seasonings. A good example of how this little phenomenon works is to think about the times you may have tasted melted ice cream. Remember how extremely sweet it tasted? Yet when it was frozen, it was just perfect. Ice cream is over-sweetened before freezing, so that it will be just right once it is frozen. So don't be stingy with the salt in this soup, or it just won't reach its full flavor potential.

Each (app 1 1/2 cup) serving (with 6 strips) contains an estimated:

Cals: 249, FatCals: 162, TotFat: 18g

SatFat: 3g, PolyFat: 3g, MonoFat: 12g

Chol: 4mg, Na: 1300mg, K: 855mg

TotCarbs: 22g, Fiber: 7g, Sugars: 3g

NetCarbs: 15g, Protein: 6g