Chilled Cucumber Yogurt Soup

This chilled cucumber yogurt soup was the result of a happy coincidence. 

On Sunday our weekly CSA delivery included four English cucumbers. Normally, I would have made tzatziki , a cucumber and yogurt sauce or salad, or what my mom called “bread and butter” pickles, made with vinegar and a bit of sugar, and I would still have had cucumbers to spare.

But I didn’t have the time to do any fussing with my CSA bounty. Scrambling to make a surprise birthday dinner for my husband Kevin (one day early, hence the surprise), I put cucumbers out of my mind while concentrating on a cake, two Ottolenghi dishes (an eggplant lemon risotto and a salad with marinated, roasted peppers), and a simple grilled filet of haddock. 

Our son Liam and his partner Kevin drove from Philly to DC to celebrate my husband’s birthday. 

Dinner was fun and not bad if I do say so myself. As a good mother should, at the end of the visit, I offered Liam and “his Kevin” a care package. They are excellent and inventive cooks, with a fondness for vegetables. So, I figured that (along with leftover cake, of course) I would give them half my cucumbers. They seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the hand-me-down CSA cukes and told me about their favorite chilled cucumber soup recipe, from the blog called Not Quite Nigella.

I loved the concept of “5 Minute Chilled White Bean, Cucumber, Mint & Yogurt Soup,” and had all the ingredients at hand. But after translating the recipe proportions from grams to ounces (400 grams /15 ounces of beans for 1-2 portions), I knew that my tastebuds required a few adjustments. After tweaks and editing, this version still retains “Not Quite Nigella” roots, but emphasizes the cucumbers over the beans and puts the fresh mint front-and-center.

Speaking of not – I’m not going to pick a fight with a much better known blogger than me, but calling it a 5-minute soup seems a bit of an exaggeration. Maybe if you’re a super fast cook and start the timer once your ingredients are all set out – washed, peeled, chopped, zested and juiced – you can make this soup in 5 minutes. On the other hand, if you’re a normal mortal like me and count all your prep time, figure on 20 minutes. Still, it’s a good investment of  minimal time for a nice result. 

If you have a serious blender (of the VitaMix type), you may be able to process the soup to a fine consistency. However, if you use an immersion blender (as I did) or a food processor, you may want to put at least part of the soup through a strainer to make it smoother. I used dried beans only because I didn’t have canned – they taste the same and since they were to be pureed, the slightly mushier consistency of cooked-from-dried was fine. 

The soup was a delightful first course when I made it the first time. But afterwards, I found that it is also a wonderful light lunch with a piece of good, crusty bread.

Print Recipe

Chilled Cucumber Yogurt Soup Yum

This simple chilled soup comes together in minutes and is the perfect light meal or first course in warm weather.

Prep Time

20 minutes

Servings

Ingredients

• 15 ounce cannellini beans (1 can) rinsed or 8 ounces/1 cup dried beans cooked and rinsed, white
• 2 English cucumbers peeled, centers scooped out, & roughly chopped, long, 1 - 1¼ pound
• 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic about 2 small cloves
• 1 lemon zested and juiced
• 1/2 cup tightly packed fresh mint leaves washed and roughly chopped
• 1 cup "regular" i.e. not Greek, yogurt (I used whole milk)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt and freshly ground pepper plus more after chilling if you so desire (go light on the salt if you are adding olive slivers)
• 2 Ice cubes
• 1/4 cup Optional garnishes - diced cucumber shelled pistachio nuts, chopped and roasted, black or green olive slivers, 1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Prep Time 20 minutes Servings Ingredients 15 ounce cannellini beans (1 can) rinsed or 8 ounces/1 cup dried beans cooked and rinsed, white 2 English cucumbers peeled, centers scooped out, & roughly chopped, long, 1 - 1¼ pound 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic about 2 small cloves 1 lemon zested and juiced 1/2 cup tightly packed fresh mint leaves washed and roughly chopped 1 cup "regular" i.e. not Greek, yogurt (I used whole milk) 1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt and freshly ground pepper plus more after chilling if you so desire (go light on the salt if you are adding olive slivers) 2 Ice cubes 1/4 cup Optional garnishes - diced cucumber shelled pistachio nuts, chopped and roasted, black or green olive slivers, 1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

1. Puree the beans, garlic, lemon zest and juice, mint and yogurt in batches, until all of those ingredients are fully combined. The mixture should be medium-thick, close to pancake batter in consistency. If the soup is not smooth enough for your taste, put several ladles of it (or all) through a strainer.
2. Add the salt and pepper and the ice cubes. Stir the soup, cover it and chill for at least one hour. Serve with the garnishes.

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