Summer Fest: Creamy Chilled Cucumber and Avocado Soup

The Summer Fest party continues this week and the guest of honor is the cucumber.  When I started thinking about what recipe to share today that would highlight one of my favorite summer vegetables, I came up blank.  I don’t usually cook with cucumbers… I just love to eat them!  I love them so much, I almost always have cucumbers in the fridge.  I add them to green salads, summer salads, and a couple times a month they get sliced, doused in vinegar, and become a salad on their own.  I also love slicing them into sticks for an afternoon snack.  But you guys don’t need a recipe to do any of those things (although I have shared a quick cucumber salad recipe in the past).

So, I started thinking about popular cucumber recipes I’ve never tried before and decided I would make a cold cucumber soup for dinner and share the results with you.  Lots of recipes I’ve seen for cucumber soup include yogurt, but since I’ve been on a huge kefir kick lately, I decided to use that instead.  I’ve actually been culturing my own kefir for a few weeks now and drinking it in a smoothie every morning.  It’s delicious and I’ve been feeling great!  I’ll be writing all about kefir soon and will share photos of the kefir-culturing process.  If you are unfamiliar with kefir and/or can’t find it at your local store (it should be located in the dairy section near the yogurts), you can certainly substitute an equal amount of plain yogurt in this soup.

The rest of the soup ingredients came together based on my own tastes and the ingredients I had on hand and I love the way it turned out.  It’s cool and creamy, with just a hint of spice from the chile. I highly recommend stirring in a handful of chopped tomatoes at the end – the tomatoes add just the right amount of sweetness.

I used my high-powered Blendtec blender to make the soup, so mine turned out perfectly smooth.  Your blender might give different results, but the soup can always be strained if necessary.  As always, I encourage you adjust ingredient amounts and seasonings to suit your own taste.

Enjoy!

Creamy Chilled Cucumber and Avocado Soup
makes 4 servings.

2 large cucumbers, about 1 1/2 pounds, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1/2 medium avocado, chopped
2 or 3 green onions, chopped
1 serrano chile, chopped
1 1/2 cups plain whole milk kefir or yogurt (not Greek-style)
1/2 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
salt, to taste

Garnish:
chopped tomatoes
chopped avocado
crumbled Cotija cheese (can substitute feta)
chopped cilantro

Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.  Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator.  To serve, garnish soup with chopped tomato, avocado, cilantro, and crumbled Cotija cheese.

Recipe notes: This soup tastes just as great the next day, so it’s definitely something that can be made ahead.  I think this would be great served in shot glasses at a party.  If you aren’t serving the soup with chopped tomatoes, I would add a tiny amount of sugar, honey, or agave nectar to the blender mixture (maybe 1/2 – 1 teaspoon) to help balance the flavors.

Related Recipes:

• Sweet and Spicy Cucumber Salad with Fresh Dill
• Tzatziki (cucumber and yogurt dip)
• Chilled Ginger Cantaloupe Soup
• Edamame and Pea Soup with Herbed Lemon Cream
• Creamy Fennel and Leek Soup

More Cucumber Soup Recipes around the Web:

• Cold Cucumber and Avocado Cream Soup from Not Just About Cooking
• Cucumber Avocado Soup from Cooking with Amy
• Chilled Cucumber Soup from Alice Q. Foodie

Cucumber Recipes from my Summer Fest Friends:

• What’s Gaby Cooking: Cucumber-Basil Gimlet
• In Jennie’s Kitchen: Radish-Cucumber Crostini
• Big Girl Small Kitchen: Spicy Cucumber Salad with Shallot, Ginger and Mint
• Grecian Kitchen: Summer Cucumber Salad
• And Love It Too: Cucumber, Mint and Watermelon Salad
• Napa Farmhouse 1885: Cucumbers Coolers with Agave Simple Syrup
• Cooking With My Kid: Cucumber Limeade
• FN Dish: Summer Fest: Cucumber Recipes
• CIA Dropout: Relishing Cucumbers
• Healthy Eats: Cool Cucumber Soup
• Food for 7 Stages of Life: Cucumber Cherry Salsa
• Cooking With Elise: Green Tea Cucumber Pops
• Glory Foods: Cucumber and Shrimp Boat
• Virtually Vegan Mama: Fire-Roasted Tomato and Cucumber Gazpacho
• Food2: When Life Gives You Cucumbers, Make a Cucumber Cocktail
• Cooking Channel: Cucumbers Stuffed with Crab-Mango Salad
• Recipe Girl: Bread and Butter Pickles
• Taste With the Eyes: Spicy Pickled Cucumbers with Wakame and Garlic Blossoms
• Virtually Homemade: Cold Thai Cucumber-Mint Soup
• Add a Pinch: Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
• The Cultural Dish: Ahi Tuna with Cucumber Sauce and Salad
• Daily*Dishin: Cool n’ Zesty Cukes: 7 Minute Summer in a Jar
• Daydreamer Desserts: Cubanita Margarita
• Purple Cook: Cucumber Gazpacho with Indian Flavored Shrimp Relish
• Indian Simmer: Cucumber at its Best with Chaat Masala
• Big Apple Nosh: Quick and Easy Homemade Pickles
• Sweet Life Bake: Agua de Pepino
• The Sensitive Epicure: Tzatziki with Grilled Gluten-Free Pitas and Fresh Cucumbers and Peppers
• Zaika Zabardast: Cucumber Gazpacho
• A Way to Garden: Cucumber-Growing Q&A and the Best Pickles
• Cooking with Books: Summer Fest: Cucumbers

How You Can Join in Summer Fest

Have a recipe or tip that fits any of our weekly themes? You can contribute to our online recipe swap in various ways, big or small.

Contribute a whole post, or a comment—whatever you wish. It’s meant to be fun, viral, fluid. No pressure, just delicious. Simply leave your tip or recipe or favorite links in the comments below a Summer Fest post on my blog, and then go visit my collaborators and do the same.

Or think bigger: Publish entire posts of your own, if you wish, and grab the juicy Summer Fest tomato badge (illustrated by Matt of Matt Bites).

To join the Summer Fest conversation on twitter, use the hash tag #cookingwith.

Summer Fest 2011 Posting Schedule

June 22: Eggplant – missed this one!
July 6: Peaches
July 20: Cucumbers
August 3: Cherries
August 17: Corn
August 13: Tomatoes
September 14: Broccoli