Sunday, November 23, 2008

Cucumber Gazpacho - Chilled Soup for A Hot Day


Variations on a theme.... last week I posted a traditional tomato gazpacho as a great simple Sunday lunch, and then enjoyed it as a light meal for the next few days. This week I decided to take gazpacho a little further, and make a cucumber version, again as a cool weekend lunch. Gazpacho in all its various forms is one of my favourite foods of all time. Travelling in Spain last year, I had a bowl at least once a day (pretty much every time I saw it on a menu). And I was all set to enjoy this bowl of summery goodness again this week, but sadly the weather has not co-operated with me at all. I made this soup on Friday expecting gorgeous late November warmth, and instead we are all wrapped up with the kids under a doona watching a movie.

Regardless of the weather, this soup is delicious. The recipe comes from a recent Matt Moran column in the Australian Financial Review (Oct 24). Matt suggests serving it with gravlax floating in the soup; you can get my recipe for gravlax here if you are that way inclined. Otherwise just enjoy this lovely soup, with the gorgeous warm chilli undertones in the flavour - it is really well-balanced: not too spicy, not too plain. A lovely recipe that I will make again once it does get hot. Thanks to Deb from Kahakai Kitchen for getting me moving with her Souper Sundays.


Cucumber Gazpacho
adapted from Matt Moran, Australian Financial Review October 24

2 telegraph cucumbers chopped roughly
1 green chilli, seeded and chopped roughly
1 bunch of shallots
10 mint leaves
1/2 bunch of dill
2 slices white sourdough bread, crusts removed
3 tbl natural yoghurt
100 ml water
50 ml good quality extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon

Place the cucumbers, chilli, shallots, mint, dill, bread, yoghurt, water and olive oil in a food processor. Blend until smooth, then push the mixture through a fine sieve, forcing out as much liquid as possible. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste. Place the soup in the fridge and chill for at least two hours before serving.

3 comments:

Deb in Hawaii said...

Just got the post up. This looks so good--all my favorite flavors. I am bookmarking it! Thanks for coming to Souper Sundays again and bringing another great soup!

Laurie said...

Suzy, It was so nice to meet you in Deb's kitchen for Souper Sunday! You're cucumber gaspacho looks great. I wish I had this recipe in August when my garden was producing so many cucumbers I didn't know that to do with them.

Now my garden is covered with a light dusting of snow (sigh...)

Patty said...

OK....you know I am still on the total vegetarian thing so this is top of my list...will put it on my next list of eco posts...

Pattyxxx

PS It is Thanksgiving in the States tomorrow...any good pecan pie recipes as I have to bring one to friends on Saturday - aaahhh! At least a pie crust recipe would be good.