Cold Cucumber Soup with Mint

I have been experimenting with cream soups recently. Not because I like them so much but because for three weeks I had to stay on a liquid diet and I am afraid I will not crave for them for a long time. During this "fast time" I finally had a chance to make all the cream soups I have been curious to try but kept postponing them in favor of some other recipes. I have also learned that soups designed to be creamed taste much better that way than if you just put any soup through a blender. They usually have fewer ingredients but when they are puréed, their taste is more defined.

Last couple of days because of the hot weather I have been juggling with cold soups. I have found gazpacho being very nutritious and great for dealing with the heat thanks to its high sodium and potassium content. Yesterday I made a cold cucumber soup flavored with mint. It tasted very refreshing.

Cold Cucumber and Mint Soup
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
1 large cucumber (about 3 cups chopped),
2 cups fat-free Greek yogurt,
3 branches of spring onion,
2 garlic cloves,
3 tbsp olive oil,
10 mint leaves,
salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Peel off cucumber and remove seeds. Place in a food processor.
2. Add chopped spring onion, garlic cloves, yogurt, oil, mint leaves. Blend them together until all the ingredients are puréed.
3. Season with salt and pepper. Cool for a minimum 2 hours.

Serve chilled, decorated with mint.

White Bean Salad--A Very Lazy Idea

This is another easy salad that I love to serve with grilled or roasted meat or fish dishes. All the effort is in the chopping. Other than that, there is nothing easier to make, as it has only three ingredients, and the main one--white canned beans--I keep always on my pantry's shelf.

As today's recipe for the salad is so banal that there is nothing to talk about, I would like to take this opportunity to share a few more general culinary ideas and make some clarifying remarks on the recipes I posted earlier.

My recipes often leave space for creativity and I could be more liberal in defining the quantities of the ingredients used but, since this blog is also addressed to those who do not yet feel very comfortable in the kitchen, I try to measure all the ingredients and provide their accurate proportions to maximize everyone's chance to succeed. But you should always feel free to experiment. For instance, you could easily use more or less of the non-essential ingredients, like salt or spices, to achieve the taste you like. You could also use different fruits for the upside down cake, as it will not hurt its taste.

However, some of the recipes work well only when you use the key ingredients as recommended and strictly observe their proportions. Likewise, some of these dishes should be served only with the recommended accompaniments or at least something similar. For example: this blue cheese snack requires hard blue cheese, like Stilton, and will not work with Gorgonzola, which is soft already and will melt too fast. Similarly, yogurt dumplings will not taste right with the Asian-style sweet and sour meats, and should be served only with spicy meats of goulash type.

As soon as the summer and my traveling ends, I will start posting some of my more complicated culinary ideas, which I find more enjoyable, since they can truly prove my creativity and passion for food. But for now, lazy cooks enjoy!

White Bean Salad

Ingredients:
2 cans any kind of white bean--I used Italian Cannellini beans,
1 English cucumber,
1/2 bunch of chives or 1 bunch of spring onion,
1/4 cup chopped dill,
1 tbsp mustard,
1 tsp sugar,
juice from 1 lemon,
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil,
salt and freshly ground pepper.

Preparation:
1. Open the cans of and rinse the beans with running water on the colander.
2. Peel the cucumber and cut it into small cubes.
3. Chop spring onion and dill.
4. Make a dressing from mustard, sugar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. When the dressing is smooth, pour in olive oil and stir gently.
5. Mix together the cucumber, beans, and herbs. Pour the dressing all over the salad and serve.

This amount of salad can satisfy 4 to 6 hungry guests. Can be served for dinner with meats or as a lunch dish with bread.

Yogurt and Mint Cucumber Salad

A cucumber salad called "mizeria" is one of the oldest and most popular summer salads in Poland. It is served with a sour cream dressing and often also with dill. It is just another version of a Greek "tzatziki" salad which is made with cucumbers, yogurt, and garlic. Recently, a simple Afghan yogurt, mint, and cucumbers salad became very popular in my home. It is a wonderful accompaniment to many Afghan dishes. A refreshing taste of dried mint makes it even more desirable during a hot DC summer. But after all, this is yet another version of a cucumber salad, so popular in many cuisines.



Yogurt and Mint Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:
1 English cucumber or 3 Japanese cucumbers,
1 clove garlic,
1 tsp dried mint,
1 cup of European, Greek, or Turkish yogurt,
salt and pepper.

Preparation:
1. Cut cucumbers into thin slices,
2. Mix yogurt with mint, spices and garlic.
3. Pour the yogurt dressing over cucumbers, mix, and serve.

A Tea Party? But the English Way Only--with Salmon Sandwiches

In Poland, where I was born, a tea party would be about a glass of black tea with a slice of lemon in it, served with various kinds of cakes and sweets.

In America--we all know--it is a political rather than a culinary affair.

I was surprised to learn that in England a tea party was all about sandwiches. A long time ago, when I lived in London, I was invited to a tea party. I ate there most delicious sandwiches, which were served with a cup of tea in a Victorian style china.

Every time I visit London I cannot resist buying a big triangle of a toast bread sandwich, with salmon spread or hard-boiled eggs and mayonnaise spread, looking for that familiar taste that is just a nostalgia impossible to resurrect.



It reminds me a story that an old French lady told me about an unforgettable coffee aroma she remembered from the maternity ward. No coffee smelled ever again the same to her anywhere else in the world. It was not so much about the coffee but this one special moment that made it so exceptional.

London then was my first longer foreign adventure. For the first time in my life I was living there on my own, working, learning a new language, discovering the western world, different cultures and ethnic food. Over there I saw for the first time ever a Rolls Royce and a Ferrari, and hand-made Oxford shoes. I bought there my first cashmere sweater. I fell there in love with the Indian cuisine and tried for the first time in my life kiwi, mango, and avocado.

For all these reasons it was unforgettable time in my life and because of all these memories I love to visit London as often as I can. I love to see and discover how much the city has changed and become more sophisticated than when I landed there for the first time twenty years ago.

A couple of years later, when I moved from London to Geneva, I met a Portuguese friend Romy who used to live in London as well. She invited me once for a lunch and prepared for us simple sandwiches and tea. I put a piece of the soft triangle in my mouth and yes, I tasted again this sandwich from the English tea party I was guest once.

It was all about this smooth salmon spread--spicy from the mustard, crunchy from the cucumber, and aromatic from dill and spring onion.

I do not make it as often these days and put it rather on slices of baguette than toast bread, but every time I do it, it tastes equally delicious, especially with a glass of white wine or a cup of tea.



I often prepare it for my guests and serve with aperitifs. Here is the recipe I got from Romy. I treasure it and have been using ever since.

Salmon Spread

Ingredients:
250 g smoked salmon,
1 tbsp butter,
2 tsp oil,
1 tbsp lemon juice,
1/4 cup light cream,
1/2 tbsp coarse mustard,
2 spring onions cut in small pieces,
1 tsp chopped dill,
salt,pepper.

Preparation:
1. Put salmon in a food processor.
2. Run the machine on pulse until the salmon is cut into small pieces.
3. Add all the remaining ingredients and let the blender work until everything turns into a smooth paste.
4. Scoop the paste out from the blender, spread over bread and serve decorated with cucumber slices.



Useful tip.
I sometimes serve salmon made this way as a starter before dinner. I use then a little bit of spread, and decorate with slices of smoked salmon, cut cucumber and dill.

My secret.
In London I always finish up this sandwich feast with a whole bar of mint Aero chocolate. So yummy and so English.

Crispy Radish Salad

I got this recipe almost thirty years ago from a Polish-German lady who was spending her summer vacations every year at the same Baltic town I went to with my parents. It was a revelation. This salad was crunchy and fresh while most salads I knew at that time were made from cooked vegetables. All ingredients needed to make it were readily available in Poland during the summer months except for ricotta salata. I used quark cheese (Polish farmer's cheese) instead but I had to first dry it for about a week. A very firm and dry feta cheese could also be used, but an authentic ricotta salata would always be better.

You will enjoy this salad with a sandwich for lunch or as a side dish with an afternoon grill. Kids like it because it contains all the crispy summer vegetables that they like to munch on.

Crispy Radish Salad

Ingredients:
2 large firm heirloom tomatoes,
1 English cucumber,
1 bunch of radish,
3 cloves of garlic,
1/2 cup chopped dill,
1/2 lb ricotta salata,
1 cup of fresh or sour cream,
1 tsp of sweet paprika,
pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Peel off cucumber, cut into small cubes.
2. Slice tomato, cut into small cubes.
3. Cut radish into small cubes.



4. Finally cut Ricotta Salata the same way, into tiny cubes.
5. Chop dill.
6. Mix all the vegetables in a bowl.
7. Squeeze or grate in garlic cloves.
8. Add pepper, paprika and cream.
9. Stir gently and put aside for 30 minutes to allow all the flavors to mix.

Dill Cucumbers, but Not So Salted.

When I saw at the market small and fresh pickles, also called kirby cucumbers, I thought about introducing them to the international readers, since cucumbers in brine are a very important part of Polish national cuisine, and I have never tried them anywhere.

In the US they are available in jars in some grocery store in Jewish food sections, under the name kosher dill pickles, but they are more salted and contain a little bit of vinegar. Polish cucumbers in brine, that is cucumbers marinated in salt only and without the use of vinegar, are more healthy and, together with sour cabbage--another Polish specialty, for many years had been one of the very few sources of vitamins during winter months and protected us from digestive tract cancer.

On the second, or third day, when cucumbers are only half-marinated and still half-raw, we call them "malosolne" (i.e., not so-salted) and eat mostly as accompaniment to bread and cold-cut meat sandwiches, use them in a summer salads, make chilled soup, or eat on the side with dinners.

As they turn deeply salted we store them through the whole winter in tightly closed jars and use them for salads, soup, and serve with dinners.

When cucumbers appear on the summer farmers market we buy them by kilograms and the whole season preserve for winter. But they are so popular and tasty that consumption of the freshly marinated cucumbers is as big in the summer as later during the year when we take them from the storage when they are already well preserved.

Pickled kirby cucumbers owe their taste to the herbs in which they are marinated. These include horseradish root or leaves, dried blooming dill, and garlic. In Poland, one can buy just the right mix in bunches. Here I buy them separately and use just fresh dill instead of the dried one, which is not available.

If you find it difficult to find kirby cucumbers in a regular supermarket, you will certainly find them at local farmers market, smaller food stores and in the ethnic, particularly Asian supermarkets. Always look for the very fresh ones, as they stay preserved in a better shape and longer.

I make cucumbers in brine only for a short time, seasonal consumption and never tried to store here over the winter. But, since I will also share a recipe for the famous Polish cold beet soup (Chlodnik) which we eat in the summer, I needed to mention them as well. And since recipes have become so global and we are willing to try different food, maybe salted cucumbers will also find their lovers outside the Poland.

Here is a modified, international version, for a small preserve jar.



Dill cucumbers

Ingredients:
1 pound of small kirby cucumbers,
4-6 dill branches,
4 cloves of peeled garlic,
1 piece of horseredish root, about 1 inch long,
1/2 tsp mustard seeds,
2 branches of fresh tarragon (optional),
1 tbsp salt,
2 bay leaves.

Preparation:
1. Dissolve salt well in one cup of water.
2. Wash cucumbers.
3. At the bottom of the jar arrange dill, garlic cloves, horseradish, and mustard seeds.
4. Put cucumbers in the jar vertically, tightly next to each other, with firmly lodged in the center.
5. Put a bay leave between the cucumbers and cover with tarragon.
6. Pour cold salted water until cucumbers are entirely covered. (You can use hot water if would like the cucumbers to marinate faster.
7. Close the lid tightly and let the jar stand in room temperature for couple of days.

If you would like to try half raw cucumbers they are good on the second, or third day when they turn from bright green to slightly dull. Cucumbers become fully marinated after four-fiver days when they become dark green, nearly brown. Then they become ordinary cucumbers in brine, which are a very popular side dish in Poland all year around.