Cold Creamy Cucumber Soup

I know, I know, you're thinking cold soup, at the end of September?!  Especially when she just posted a recipe for butternut squash soup last week and made a thing out of the fact that the summer was gone?!!  Is the woman mad?!! Well, I may be mad, but there's a method to my madness. As usual, there's a story behind it...

I think my husband would have been happy being a farmer. And I mean this in the nicest most complimentary way. Farmers grow us all the good food we like to eat and cook with and there's definitely something rewarding in providing people with food. Just look at the big farm-to-table trend going on across the country now.  My husband does all the gardening happily (even the annoying leaf raking) and for the past couple of years, he's grown vegetables and we've all reaped the fruits (and vegetables) of his labor (too on-the-nose?). He's done pretty well but this year the cucumbers have been outrageous. Take a look:

Don't say it!

I know what you're thinking--now stop it!

There are so many jokes I could make, but I'm going to restrain myself and take the high road here. Needless to say, our house has been flooded with these guys and there were numerous pickling projects. But you can only have so many mason jars in your fridge filled with pickles, so when three huge new cukes moseyed on into my kitchen yesterday, I decided to try something new. 

This cucumber soup is cold, creamy, light, and refreshing. There's no cooking involved-seriously I threw it together in about 12 minutes before rushing my nieces off to school! And though I'm not really a fan of cucumbers or dill, I liked it. My husband really liked it and has been happily enjoying a bowl of it before dinner for the past few nights.

All you do is cut the cucumbers in half and scoop out the seeds:

Then you basically just chop them up, throw them into a big bowl with buttermilk, sour cream, vinegar, spices and fresh dill and blend it all up in a blender.  The soup turns a very pretty color and looks sort of impressive and restaurant-like when you garnish it with a little bit of the chopped dill.

So the next time Peter Piper picks a peck of unpickled peppers in your house, give this soup a try. I think you'll be glad you did!

---

Cold Creamy Cucumber Soup

Serves 6-8 people

Prep Time:  15 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 medium cucumbers
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, shaken
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• About 2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

The Recipe

1.  Peel cucumbers and halve lengthwise. Scoop out seeds and throw out. Chop cucumbers coarsely and place in large bowl.

2.  Add all other ingredients to bowl and mix well.

3.  Working in 2 batches, puree mixture in blender until smooth and pour into another large bowl. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

4.  Either serve immediately or chill, covered, until ready to eat.  Soup keeps for several days but stir before serving in case it has separated a bit.

Enjoy!