March 6, 2012

Cucumber Soup

I absolutely love soup, and ever since we moved to NYC from Florida I've been experimenting with hearty soups during the winter. This year, I haven't felt compelled to making any soup aside from the standard chicken noodle soup when I got sick last month. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but its been such a mild winter I haven't even craved hearty soups at all!

Growing up in Puerto Rico, we didn't eat soup often as the weather was just too warm for it. But when my mother would make soup, this was a often the preferred choice of soup that paired well with the tropical weather in Puerto Rico, as it satisfied the craving for soup, while still being incredibly light. This cucumber soup is wonderful when piping hot, but its also great cold or even room temperature, similar to a gazpacho.

I recently made this it as I was nursing my second cold of the season, but paired it with a grilled cheese sandwich just to give it a more "comfort food" feel. Since its texture, nor ingredients (don't even think about the heavy cream) is nothing like thick, creamy bisque or cream based soup, which makes this cucumber soup guilt free too!


Ingredients:
2-3 large cucumbers
1.5 cups of water per cucumber
1/4 cup of chopped onion
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 chicken bouillon cube
1-2 tbsp heavy cream

Peel and chop the cucumber and set aside.  (I always like to keep 1/3 of the cucumber with the peel on to enhance the color, but you can peel if you prefer).

Set aside about 1/4 cup of chopped cucumber to add as a garnish. In a soup pot sautee the onions and garlic until they are fully cooked and lightly transluscent. Add the cucumber and sautee for a few minutes then add the water. Add the salt, pepper and bouillon cube and bring water to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for about 40 minutes.

With a hand immersion blender, blend the soup until smoothe. Add the heavy cream and heat for another 5 minutes. Serve in bowl with some of the un-cooked cucumber you set aside, and pair with your choice of grilled cheese sandwich.