Basic Chilled Cucumber Soup Recipe

My friend Bob made me one of my first chilled soups—a basic cucumber soup—and I remember it fondly to this day. After that we embarked on numerous culinary chilled-soup adventures (It's one of the only things I want to eat during the hot Summer!) but I always think back to that first cup of simple, basic, heavenly cucumber soup. This is my attempt to recreate it and I think it's pretty close. Note that one can elaborate on this to make a plethora of exciting chilled soups, so the recipe is doubly-valuable in acting as one of my "foundation recipes". (see the carrot & cumin soup recipe for an example)

Ingredients

  • 2 large cucumbers, peeled, cored and seeded
  • 1 medium (white) onion
  • 1/4 cup butter (4 tbsp)
  • 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp basil
  • 1/2 tsp dill weed
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 8oz package of (light1) sour cream
  • 1 tsp salt (maybe 2)
  • Paprika (for garnish)

Instructions

  1. Finely chop (or even grate in cuisinart) onion and cucumbers.
  2. Melt butter and saute onion and cucumbers until "wilted but not browned".
  3. Add broth, water, lemon, basil, dill and simmer for about 10 minutes.
  4. Move contents to blender and liquify for a while.
  5. Pour contents through strainer/sieve and mash as much liquid through as possible.
  6. Chill for a couple hours.
  7. Reblend with sour cream.
  8. Serve with paprika garnish.

1 nutritionally speaking, "light" sour cream is preferable over both regular and fat-free. It has little fat and little sugar. Fat-free has gobs of carbohydrates and regular has gobs of fat. In this soup the taste is also just fine.

AI Editorial Notes:

  • FLAG FOR REVIEW: The instructions mention "Serve with paprika garnish" in step 8, but "Paprika" was missing from the original Ingredients list. I have added it for you.
  • Updated decimal measurements to fractions (`1.5` to `1 1/2`) to match the style guide.