Cold cucumber soup with lots of fresh herbs and edible pansies is my ultimate summer soup! Making of this cucumber soup is a breeze. You can chop the ingredient straight into your blender and with a push of a button you’re done!
This light, refreshing and summery cold cucumber soup is best served with a few ice cubes and a good drizzle of grassy olive oil. The edible flowers on top are NOT optional! 😉 They are not only a pretty garnish, but add a lovely floral note to the soup!
Herb overload!
I was recently in a situation, where I had hoarded a huge amount of fresh herbs to my home for photography purposes! (You can see those photos here.) A lovely situation in theory, but at the time I had little to no time for kitchen shenanigans. As fresh herbs never seem to thrive in my household, I had to come up with a solution fast. I knew that otherwise all the lovely produce would end up in the bio waste!
Cold cucumber soup
As I was racking my brain for ideas, I remembered Green Goddess dressing! This dressing isn’t well known in Finland, but a few years back I gave it a go and fell in love with its freshness. So I decided to mimic those flavors as a cold cucumber soup! Into the blender went a bunch of de-seeded cucumber, followed by a huge amount of herbs. Flat leaf parsley, mint, tarragon and chervil to be exact! I also added the stems and leaves of the edible “salad” pansies I had at home. This variety of violet has a lovely floral note to the greens, so why not add it in too?
To add body to the soup, I drizzled in grassy extra virgin olive oil and creamy full fat Turkish yogurt. To season the mix, I added a small clove of garlic and some scallion greens – enough to give the soup flavor, but not so much that the alliums would overpower it. A bit of lemon juice, salt and black pepper was added and with the push of a button, my cold cucumber soup was done!
The floral note from the violet stems and leaves turned out to be a lovely addition to the soup! That’s why i think it was only right to also garnish the soup with edible pansies. To amp up the floral notes I also crushed some dried rose petals on top of the soup. Since it’s a cold cucumber soup, it has to be served with ice cubes. And oh what a lovely light, refreshing and summery soup it turned out to be!
Cold cucumber soup with herbs and pansies
Equipment
- blender / immersion blender
Ingredients
- 500 g cucumber
- 2-3 bunches fresh herbs (mint, flat leaf parsley, chervil, tarragon)
- 300 g Turkish yogurt (full fat)
- ⅓ dl extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 1 scallion, green part (or a few chives)
- edible pansies
- salt, freshly cracked black pepper (to taste)
To serve:
- ice
- extra virgin olive oil
- edible pansies (and/or other edible flowers)
- flakey salt, freshly cracked black pepper
Notes:
Instructions
Preparation:
- Peel and chop the garlic clove. Chop a few centimeters of scallion green or a few chives and add them to your blender bowl. Top the onions with the juice of a half of lemon.
- De-seed the cucumber and roughly chop it. You can peel it too, if you like (the cucumber I use here in Finland must be peeled, since the peel is quite bitter). Add the cucumber to the blender and puree everything until smooth.
- Throw in the herbs of your choice! I like to add a lot of flat leaf parsley, stems and all + some mint, tarragon and chervil. If the herbs have a thick hard stem, I remove them. I also throw in some tender leaves and stems of edible violets, since they add a lovely floral note to the soup. The variety I use is sold here under the name "salad pansy" and is fully edible with a mild floral taste. Please note that not all violets can be used like this!
- Add in yogurt and blend until everything is super smooth! Season the cold cucumber soup with a good amount of salt and freshly cracked black pepper, blend once more, check the seasoning, adjust if needed... and you're done!
- I recommend that you leave the soup covered in the fridge to cool off for half an hour or so to chill and to let the flavors develop a bit. Just remember to mix it well once more before serving!
Serving:
- Serve the cold cucumber soup in deep bowls with a few ice cubes. Drizzle with some grassy extra virgin olive oil and finish the bowls with flakey salt, freshly cracked black pepper and edible violets. Serve immediately!
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