The last few months have been hot, hot, hot. Out in Kefalonia, late May began to feel like the thick of a tinder-dry August; back here in England we may be having the sunniest start ever to our summer! I half expect to hear those Mediterranean cicadas take up their daily buzz in our Dorset garden.
So yes, it’s been perfect salad weather except after two months of variations-on-a-salad I’ve had my fill, so here’s a delicious chilled soup to cool you off, an old recipe of my mum’s from those salad days (sorry, couldn’t resist) growing up in Sydney.
There’s nothing hard about this recipe, in fact I could’ve almost called it a smoothie but that really doesn’t do its delicate flavour justice.
Cucumber is naturally the star ingredient, so do check that your guests love it (some really don’t!)
Many of the other components are interchangeable, replacable, whatever your garden or fridge yields.
Instead of basil you could use more dill or mint; instead of dill you could pick some fronds off that rampant fennel plant. Instead of lime, there’s lemon. I’ll stop here…
Perhaps the only hard part is the planning. This soup needs at least 4 hours in the fridge before you serve it. I tend to cool it overnight to make sure it really is CHILLED and will therefore give me that rush of cold I’m hankering for when the sun is dialled up high.
Ingredients for two
1 large cucumber (c 400g)
150g yoghurt, either Greek or plant-based
30g olive oil
juice from 2 lime
2 pressed garlic cloves – or 3 to give it more of an edge
approx. 10 large basil leaves, give or take (I was limited to the number of leaves on my new basil plant)
2 tbsp chopped dill
2 tbsp mint – and extra for garnish
OR
1 tbsp chives for garnish
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Method
Cut six thin slices off that cucumber for the final garnish, then roughly chop the rest and put it in a blender with the yoghurt, oil, garlic…everything, in fact, except the garnish (mint or chives, your call), and the decorative cucumber slices.
Blend until smooth, do the usual taste test and add whatever you’d like more of, and that’s it!
Refrigerate a minimum of 4 hours, but as I mentioned, overnight means you’ll be organised if it’s part of a feast the following day, plus it’s then guaranteed to be cold, and yes, it does seem to get a little more body overnight.
Ladle into two bowls, drizzle with a little oil, add garnish – and enjoy x
PS. this bread alongside is delicious, an excellent gluten-free recipe I keep meaning to repost (but really you can simply google for yourself ‘life changing loaf’ from New Roots)
