Cold Soup with Herbs, Yogurt (and Edible Flowers)
Wine suggestion:
Dry sparkling wine or if you’re looking for something different: a wine-free (but moody) alternative Cucumber gin and tonic (light, not sweet) is a surprisingly elegant combination.
Summer cold cucumber and yogurt soup (like tarator, gazpacho verde, cucumber soup) has high acidity, freshness, milkiness and green notes, which sets clear rules for wine.
Cold Cucumber Soup – Tarator
To add body to the soup, drizzle in extra virgin olive oil and creamy 2% low fat / 3,6% full fat Bulgarian yogurt. To season the mix, add cloves of garlic and dille – enough to give the soup flavor, but not so much that the garlic would overpower it. A bit of salt and black pepper and ground wallnuts is added and your fresh yogurt cucumber soup was done!
The floral note from the edible flowers, and leaves turn out to be a lovely modern addition to the soup! That’s why I think it’s charming to also garnish the soup with edible flowers. To amp up the floral notes you also can crush some dried Bulgarian rose petals on top of the soup. Since it’s a cold cucumber soup, it has to be served with ice cubes. What a lovely light, with different colorful and aromatic accents. But the soup is lovely also without it.
Ingredients for 4 servings
For the soup:
- 500 g cucumber
- 1½ bunch fresh dill
- 500 g Bulgarian yogurt (low or full fat)
- 30 ml extra virgin olive oil (about 2 tablespoons)
- 1-2 clove garlic
- 1 tea cup, ground walnuts
- salt, freshly cracked black pepper (to taste)
optional:
- edible flowers
To serve:
- some grassy extra virgin olive oil
- edible flowers (violets, pansy or rose petals to garnish)
- freshly cracked black pepper (flakey salt optional)
- ice
Preparing the recipe:
- Peel and finely chop or mash the garlic cloves.
- Deseed the cucumber (optional) and cut into fine cubes. You can also peel it if you like (the cucumber I use here in the Netherlands needs to be peeled as the skin is quite tasteless and hard). Add the cucumber into big serving bowl and mix with the garlic and olive oil. Leave for 10 minutes to let the flavours blend.
- Add the yoghurt and mix until everything is super smooth! Season the cold cucumber soup with a little salt and stir, check the seasoning, adjust if necessary.
- Add the herbs of your choice! I like to add a lot of dill.
- Add ground walnuts or other nuts of your choice. … and you’re done!
- To taste, dilute with water before serving.
- Sometimes I also add a few tender leaves and stems of edible violets as they give a lovely floral flavour to the soup. The variety I use is sold here under the name “salad violet” and is completely edible with a light floral flavor. Please note that not all violets can be used this way!
Serving:
I recommend leaving the soup covered in the refrigerator, chilling for about half an hour to cool and develop the flavors a bit. Just don’t forget to stir it well one more time before serving!
Serve the cold soup in deep bowls with a few ice cubes. Drizzle with a little herb-infused extra virgin olive oil and finish the bowls with rock salt, freshly ground black pepper and edible violets. Serve immediately!