Being that we are getting a lot of cucumbers out of the garden right now, the old light bulb went off and I got the idea to do a chilled Cucumber Soup for this weeks Dim Sum Sunday. I got the Cold Cucumber Soup with Mint recipe from Epicureous.com.
Here's what the garden looks like as of last week. There's a lot of cucumbers in there (you just can't see them in this picture). We've had so much rain this summer (and this week - we got pounded again today) that the tomatoes are starting to rot. We have a lot of green ones but I bet I pulled 15 rotten ones off yesterday. Seems like they start to ripen and go right to rot. I'm hoping we get some this week.
I followed the recipe fairly closely. I substituted Low-fat Vanilla Yogurt for the buttermilk, added a little red pepper and I doubled the egg yolk and rice wine vinegar.
I garnished with mint, fresh ground pepper and red onion as was suggested by several reviewers.
After Action Report
I really liked this soup. Sweet and cool and better than I thought it'd be. It could have been a little colder (chilled in the fridge for 2 hours) but other than that, it was nice. The Mrs. liked it but didn't like the onions on top. She even said to save the leftovers for another day. I'm anxious to try it after a day in the fridge. The Pudge didn't like it because he's 11 and soup should be hot. The Boy sort of liked it but had problems with the texture (too gritty). I'll admit it was a little gritty but not off-putting. I pureed it for about 2 minutes.
General Consensus
Will make it again - next summer.
5 comments:
That looks really good. I'm curious at to why you went with the vanilla yogurt as opposed to the plain yogurt? Did you want that little bit of sweetness to balance a savory flavor?
That's pretty funny about your son but two out of three's not bad. Good luck with those tomatoes.
I have cucumber envy! Mine are loooong gone. Way too humid right now!
The soup looks great, but I'm with your wife on the onions. :)
Happy DSS!
Shamu
A lot of reviewers of this recipe (on epicurious)substituted plain yogurt for buttermilk. To be honest, vanilla was all they had at the local corner store and they didn't have buttermilk either. It definitely made it a little sweeter. I added some hot pepper but not enough (because of the Mrs). I think it would taste better with the plain yogurt and a little more pepper.
And I don't really care what the monsters think my food. I just thought blog readers would be interested. You know, actually I do care - chef's pride and all that. Later this summer I may try a Vichyssoise. I've always wanted to make that.
We're going to the garden tonight to check on the tomatoes. I'm not very hopeful. We had another 2" of rain yesterday.
Dani
Yeah, the Mrs doesn't like onions on anything except fried onions on a steak. So I cook to please - me. It was actually a simple recipe and I'm going to have leftovers tonight to see if it taste any better the longer it sits.
I like your photos, esp. the food styling ones! Very nice indeed! Of course I'm jealous you have a garden. I miss growing my own tomatoes and beans and peas! Shame about the tomatoes, can you pick them before they rot? Will they still ripen?
Not a fan of the cool soups like your boy but it looked very pleasant! I give you an "A" for effort and trying something new!
I do like the old style cucumber salad that I used to have when I was growing up. I think it has sour cream, fresh dill and a bit of vinegar?
Happy DSS!
Thanks Diva
The garden we have is a township run plant-a-patch program at the original area farm the town was built around. We picked some of the larger green tomatoes the other day and have them on the windowsill. We'll see what happens.
The cucumber salad I make has sour cream, dill and/or parsley, sugar and white vinegar. Sometimes I'll throw in some additional fresh herbs depending on what I have at the time (tarragon, thyme, basil). Thanks for stopping by.
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