Cold Cucumber and Mint Soup

At the moment it is high summer and we have a bit of a glut of cucumbers, which we pick before they get very big. Still, we have plenty and the weather is rather hot. So here’s a super quick cold soup that takes care of the cucumber glut and the heat.

 

 

 

 

What you need

• about 800g of cucumber diced
• 200 ml natural (Greek) yoghurt
• 400 ml vegetable broth
• 1 small glass of white port (optional, but nice)
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• a sprig each of mint, tarragon and dill
• a small jalapeño pepper (not pictured)
• salt and pepper

What you do

1. Puré all the ingredients in a blender.
2. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (I said it was super quick.)
3. Put in the fridge for an hour.
4. Decorate with herbs and, if using, some very thin slices of Jalapeño peppers) and serve with fresh bread or crostini.

Crostini Toppings: Olive Paste and Smoked Trout with Pernod Topping

Summer is not always the time for cooking. I mostly enjoy an insalata Caprese (slices of tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and a balsamico/olive oil dressing, a perfect combination) or a Greek Salad (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, feta and olives with oregano or rigani if I can get it), and, mostly, what really goes well with a salad of this kind is fetunta (roasted slices of bread rubbed with garlic and douses with a generous shot of olive oil. And fetunta is just a small step away from crostini.

Last summer I provided a recipe for my sundried tomato topping (fam-food.blogspot.com/2011/07/sun-dried-tomato-paste.html). Here are two more:

What you need: Olive Paste

• 300 g olives (for instance 200 g black Calamata, 100 g green)
• 3-5 cloves of garlic
• 1 chilli, chopped (minus the seeds if you want it less spicy)
• a bit of olive oil

What you do

1. De-pip the olives, chop the garlic and the chilli.
2. Chop the mixture up in the blender, adding a bit of olive oil for smoothness.
3. If you add some anchovies before you put the mixture in the blender, you have a Provencal tapenade.
4. This costs considerably less than all commercially available olive pastes and you can do it exactly to the taste.

This paste is a jam jar with a lid can be kept in the fridge for some time.

What you need: Smoked Trout topping

• 2 smoked trout fillets
• 1 dl crème fraîche
• 4 tbsps Pernod (or pastis)
• 1 tsp (or less) dried chilli
• 1 tbsp soya sauce (mild)
• Cajun spice (see earlier postings)
• 1 sprig of tarragon chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, pressed
• ½ pepper, peeled and diced for decoration

What you do

1. Mash the trout fillets, mix with the crème fraîche, the pernod (you may not put all of it in just yet) and the soya sauce.
2. Season with chillies and Cajun spice.
3. Add the chopped tarragon and the garlic.
4. Blend until the mixture is quite smooth. If it is too spicy, add a bit more cream.
5. Season to taste and perfume with more Pernod if needed.
6. For colour sprinkle peppers over the top.

This topping, which has a lovely blend of aniseed and smoked fish, should be eaten relatively quickly.

Final remark

Both toppings taste great on roasted slices of bread with a bit of garlic rubbed on before the pastes are spread generously.