Author Notes
Chilled soup of cucumbers and watercress blended with Greek yogurt and buttermilk, topped with salsa for a hot summer night. A couple of ingredient notes: If you don't have verjus (or verjuice), substitute white grape juice in the soup and white wine vinegar in the salsa. Pequin dried red pepper flakes are not spicy. They add a hint of smokiness to the soup, so omit if you don't have them. It's just a light touch of them. —TheWimpyVegetarian
Ingredients
- Soup
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3 cups peeled, sliced, quartered English cucumbers
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1/4 cups chopped scallions including most of the darker green stalk (about 2 scallions)
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1/4 cups coarsely chopped watercress
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1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
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3/4 cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt (I use Fage)
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3/4 cup buttermilk
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2 Tablespoons verjus (or white grape juice)
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1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
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big pinch cumin powder
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big pinch cayenne powder
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Pequin dried red pepper flakes (optional)
- Salsa
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1 Roma tomato, finely chopped
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1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
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1/4 medium white onion, minced
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1/2 avocado cut into chunks
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1 teaspoon minced jalapeño
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splash verjus (or white wine vinegar)
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drizzle olive oil
Directions
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In a food processor purée all ingredients for the soup EXCEPT the pequin red pepper flakes until smooth. Adjust seasoning - you may find you prefer a little more lemon juice or salt.
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Pour into a container, cover, and chill for at least 30 minutes, but ideally overnight.
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Serve the pequin red pepper flakes separately for people to sprinkle on as they prefer. This kind of dried red pepper flakes are not very spicy, but instead add a nice smokiness to the soup for depth.
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Mix the tomato, cilantro, onion, avocado, and jalapeño together, and toss with verjus and olive oil. Serve on the side.
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