Monday, July 25, 2011

Cucumber Avocado Cilantro Soup


I wouldn't describe myself as someone who's into chilled soup. Soup, to me, is all about warm and cozy, rainy days and winter weekends with a pot going for hours. But I love gazpacho, and that's cold and I love cilantro, and wish it could be soup.

If you Google cucumber avocado soup, you'll find a range of recipes. Some cook the cucumber. Some add cream or yogurt. Some use chicken stock. But I have a blender and don't want to cook.

This took 10 minutes from idea to fridge (let it chill) and 40 minutes from idea to eat. Quick, cool, refreshing. It was, however, not filling. This is one course, not dinner. Do I seem like the sort who makes multiple courses? Eat it with a biscuit.




First, chop some veg.

I use a melon baller to seed my cucumbers (peel, seed, chop), but that's unnecessary. It's important to me that the melon baller have another job, other than balling melon, to earn its spot in the drawer. You can use your thumb. A spoon. A knife.

This was two cucumbers.


A small red onion.


Half a jalepeno, seeded.


And an avocado. I did the avocado last so it had the greatest hope of not browning. It did not brown.


You're going to use the blender, so all of this just needs a rough chop. I ran my knife inside the halved avocado to pre-cut some slices, then turned them over and turned the skin inside out to let those slices fall onto my board.


And some yogurt. A little more than half of a cup.


Seasonings: the juice of half a lime, a quarter teaspoon or so of salt and a quarter cup of cilantro.


All into the blender. I added as little water as I could, but did add some to get it going. I think I ended up with about three tablespoons. Hold back on the water as much as you can.


I set mine on "smoothie" but whatever your hardcore blender setting is. Dip a finger in. Is it smooth? Does it taste good? Good. (If not, do something to it).
Let it chill in the fridge for at least a half hour.  


This made three big bowls (you could get away with four) and it wasn't brown or weird for lunch the next day.

I topped it with slices of cherry tomato and some additional cilantro.




print recipe

Cucumber Avocado Cilantro Soup
Cool and refreshing soup with some of my favorite summery flavors.
Ingredients
  • 1 avocado
  • 2 cucumbers, seeded
  • 1/4 cup cilantro
  • 1/2 lime worth lime juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 jalepeno, seeded
  • 1 small red onion
  • 1/3 cup yogurt
Instructions
Roughly chop vegetables.Put everything into the blender, reserving some cilantro for garnish. Add a tablespoon of water. Try to blend. If you need more water, add it, up to about 3 tablespoons. Blend thoroughly. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and tomato (optional). Enjoy cold.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 3 servings

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