Today was one of those miserable late summer days that was so absurdly hot and humid, there was no way I could possibly turn on the stove. I spent my morning working outside, dripping sweat, contemplating what cool refreshing dinner I would make. After much deliberation, I settled on this cucumber soup with yogurt, avocado, and herbs. It required no cooking whatsoever, and I had everything I needed to make it at home.
The biggest problem was that I was totally making the recipe up as I go along. I’ve been reading Samin Nosrat’s excellent cookbook, “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” which lays out some pretty clear and rock solid principles for winging it in the kitchen. Since it was a million degrees outside, I decided to forget about the heat part, but made sure there was enough salt, fat, and acid in the cucumber soup.
I also wanted this to be a meal for my family, so a bowl of watery cucumber soup wasn’t going to fit the bill; the soup needed some body. I wanted to make this redolent of tzatziki sauce without being a dip you eat with a spoon, not that there’s anything wrong with that. I decided to throw in an avocado to make the soup a bit more rich and velvety. Add some mint, dill, and lemon to make the flavors bright, and some feta cheese and olive oil to deepen the flavor a bit. I added a shallot because I was out of garlic (shame!), but it came out great, so I’ll stick to that in the recipe.
On blenders
The best part of this whole recipe is that you all you need to make it is a decent blender. Until about a year ago, I had an old hand me down blender that I thought worked just fine. When it died, I replaced it with a Blendtec and couldn’t be happier. I regularly make huge vats of smoothie to feed an entire family and the thing has proven to be bombproof. I think the motor is 3 horsepower, which seems to be plenty for anything I’ve ever needed to blend.
Make it a meal
If you want to make another dish to make this a meal, why not try pasta with dandelion greens, or a grilled pizza?
Sam Kaestner
6 bowls
A cold cucumber soup that is filling enough to be a meal of its own. Redolent of the flavors of tzatziki, made silky with the addition of an avocado.
15 minPrep Time
5 minCook Time
20 minTotal Time
Save RecipeINGREDIENTS
- 2 English Cucumbers
- 1 Avocado
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup fresh dill
- 1/4 cup fresh mint
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small shallot
- 3.5 oz feta cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
METHOD
- Roughly chop the cucumbers and seed and peel the avocado. Separate the mint and dill leaves from the stems.
- Add all ingredients to the blender jar.
- Blend until smooth. If the soup looks too thick, add a but more water 1/4 cup at a time.
- Taste for salt and pepper and adjust the seasoning. Depending on how salty your feta cheese is, you may need no salt, or up to 1.5 teaspoons.
- Chill for at least three hours if you are the kind of person that plans ahead. If not, just eat it right away.
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