Simply Summer {Cucumber Soup with Shrimp}

Jeromy and I were really lucky to have a lot of help as soon as Caroline was born.  My parents spent two weeks with us and then Jeromy’s mom spent a week.  I hardly had to think about anything more than Caroline’s feeding and sleeping schedule, meals just materialized in front of me.  It was wonderful.  But after 3 weeks, I was ready to get back into the swing of things.  I wanted to cook a meal.  But here’s the thing—with a newborn, you don’t necessarily have time to cook a whole meal—you have to move quickly. 

One day while Caroline was napping on me I was watching the Barefoot Contessa and she made this cold cucumber soup.  She basically just threw a bunch of stuff in a food processor.  I could totally handle that.

Ingredients

• 1 container Greek yogurt {I used Trader Joe’s 0% fat}
• 2 English cucumbers, seeded and chopped
• 3/4 cup half and half
• 1/4 of a red onion, chopped
• 5 whole scallions, sliced
• 2-3 lemons, juiced
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1/2 tablespoon black pepper
• large handful cilantro, minced
• 16 shrimp, cooked and halved {I used frozen—a great shortcut}

Method

Prepare all of the ingredients. 

Add everything except the cilantro, shrimp and lemon juice to a food processor.  A blender can be used too, just work in batches.

Process until pureed.  Transfer to a separate container and fold in the cilantro.  Cover and chill for at least 2 hours.

Prepare the shrimp about 10 minutes before you want to eat.  When ready to serve, stir in the lemon juice. 

I put a small pile of the shrimp on the bottom of the bowl, ladled the soup over it and then garnished with 4 shrimp halves.

This soup is creamy, refreshing and just delicious.  It was filling enough to be dinner but also light enough that we were not weighed down on a hot summer night.

To make this dish vegetarian friendly, just omit the shrimp.  Next time I think I would use shallots instead of red onion for a milder flavor.

As much as I love all of the fresh produce at the farmer’s market throughout the summer, we are entering my favorite time of the year.  I can’t wait to get into the kitchen and make some fall favorites…but it’ll be hard tearing myself away from this face. 

 

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from The Barefoot Contessa

Tagged as: cilantro, cucumber, greek yogurt, shrimp, soup