Cold Creamy Cucumber Soup
Cold Creamy Cucumber Soup
Serves either 4 large portions or
6 smaller portions
Yield: One litre
Prep Time: 10 mins
Chilling Time: 4 hrs or preferably overnight
Our new season's cucumbers are starting to ripen and I picked the first one today. The obvious thing was to make a soup and so combining a number of ingredients to put into my liquidiser, a quick whizz and instant fresh, tangy soup!
This soup needs to be liquidised to get a really smooth creamy consistency and
thereafter to be well chilled - so ideal to make the day before.
I was inspired by this Guest Recipe from Loveandlemons.com but decided to add some extra herbs,
plus one or two other ingredients as well as vegan cream to create
a smoother tasting finish and take the edge off the tanginess from the lemon..
Try to use all the herbs suggested as they make this soup so special.
This soup looks so beautiful and tastes as good!
It is really special, if possible, to source as many ingredients and herbs from your garden and veg patch
for that special Summer freshness.
A light starter dish before Sunday lunch! Why not serve with home made warm sourdough rolls!
Ingredients
- One large cucumber, chopped, reserve a few slices for garnish
- 1½ cups plain whole milk Greek yogurt (You can use Sour Cream if you prefer)
- ¼ cup cream or creme fraiche - I used Vegan Elmlea Cream
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, more for drizzling
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (I used the juice of one whole lemon, but don't put all of it in to start with)
- Half a red onion, finely chopped
- ¼ cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves
- ¼ cup fresh mint leaves
- 2 tablespoons loosely packed tarragon leaves
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
- ½ teaspoon runny honey
- 1 level teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
To Garnish - Fresh mint, dill, or chives
- Slices of cucumber
- Drizzle of virgin olive oil
AND THIS IS WHAT YOU DO.....
- It is best to use a proper blender, rather like the one you might have to make smoothies or to attach to a Kenwood mixer. Otherwise, you could you a hand pulser, but that would take a little longer and you would not get quite such a smooth result.
- In a blender, combine the cucumber, yogurt, cream, red onion, olive oil, lemon juice (perhaps not all of it), herbs, garlic, honey, seasoning and blend until smooth.
- Now you need to taste and possibly adjust seasoning, perhaps add extra cream. I have adjusted the ingredients so for us, this now tastes just perfect. Chill for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight as this soup tastes it's best well chilled..
- Serve in bowls and garnish with the reserved cucumber slices, fresh herbs, drizzles of olive oil, and freshly ground black pepper.