Cold Cucumber Soup with Yogurt and Dill for Souper (Soup, Salad, & Sammie) Sundays

If you read this blog regularly you know that I'm a person who eats hot soup almost all year-round living in a tropical climate. And while I'll happily slurp a bowl of soupy noodles or a good thick chowder on a warm and humid day, it's the cooking of the soup that I dislike in hotter weather. That's when I pull out the recipes for cold soups that I have been pinning throughout the year. A little time chopping and blending and several hours chilling, result in a cool and refreshing starter or light lunch or dinner.

Cold soups with cucumber and yogurt are especially cooling and perfect for a summery day. I have several of them on the blog (just look under the 'cold soups' tab) and I have been meaning to try Andrew Zimmerman's from Food & Wine Magazine. I liked the description of the dill, tarragon and parsley combination of herbs and the brightness from the lemon and tangy yogurt. 

Cold Cucumber Soup with Yogurt and Dill
Recipe by Andrew Zimmerman via Food & Wine Magazine, June 2013
(Makes About 5 Cups)

2 large European cucumbers (2 1/4 pounds), halved and seeded—1/2 cup finely diced, the rest coarsely chopped

1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt

3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 small shallot, chopped

1 garlic clove

1/3 cup loosely packed dill

1/4 cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley leaves

2 Tbsp loosely packed tarragon leaves

1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling

salt

fresh ground white pepper

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

In a blender, combine the chopped cucumber with the yogurt, lemon juice, shallot, garlic, dill, parsley, tarragon and the 1/4 cup of olive oil. Blend until smooth. Season with salt and white pepper, cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Season the soup again just before serving. Pour the soup into bowls. Garnish with the finely diced cucumber, red onion and a drizzle of olive oil and serve.

Notes/Results: A simple soup to put together but complex in flavor and really refreshing--especially when served very cold--so definitely give it plenty of time to chill, so the flavors meld. I forgot to get a red onion for the top, so I subbed in another shallot for garnish along with the chopped cucumber. (BTW--I almost never seed my English/European cucumbers--I like the flavor and it doesn't matter when it's blended up anyway.) You can make this soup vegan by using a thick vegan dairy-free plain Greek-style yogurt--I recommend a coconut milk-based yogurt. I ate a bowl of this soup as a light lunch today and it would also be perfect paired with a salad or as a starter for a grilled meal of any kind. I will happily make this again.
 

My pal Tina is with me in  the Souper Sundays kitchen this week--let's take a look!

Tina of Squirrel Head Manor shared her Greek Salad saying, "This was meant to hook up with Deb's Souper Sunday but I was  supremely unmotivated and thick-headed on Sunday so.........yeah.   Didn't happen. I'm not saying we did sit on the patio until late drinking Chardonnay, talking and listening to the rain patter on the metal roof......but it would explain why a perfectly good post with photos already uploaded didn't make the linkup :-) Better late than never.  Having salad with pizza presumably enables me to eat less pizza.  A big fat salad and two slices of tomato, mushroom and spinach pizza was enough.  Otherwise, I eat three slices.  Every time. Heavy on the feta cheese, red onion, lots of black olives for me and fewer for Doug, banana peppers and tomato is such a great accompaniment for pizza night."

Mahalo Tina!

About Souper Sundays:

Souper Sundays is back with a new format of a picture link each week where anyone interested can post their soups, salads, or sandwiches any time during the week and I post a recap of the entries the following week.)

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here. 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up her in order to be included in the weekly round-up.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to it on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (optional).

An InLinkz Link-up

Have a happy, healthy week!