{"id":6389,"date":"2024-07-24T20:44:01","date_gmt":"2024-07-24T20:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/?p=6389"},"modified":"2024-07-25T02:17:52","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T02:17:52","slug":"recipe-cucumber-dill-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/recipe-cucumber-dill-soup\/","title":{"rendered":"Recipe: Cucumber Dill Soup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This soup calls for cooking the cucumbers, which may seem odd, but once cooked they blend nicely for a velvety smooth soup. Also, if you have trouble eating raw cucumbers you may be able to enjoy them if they are cooked first. Can be served at room temperature or chilled.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Serves: 4 (as a main dish)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Step 1: Lightly Saute Onion<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1 Tbsp. olive oil<\/li>\n<li>1 cup onion, diced to \u00bd\u201d (from about 1 small onion)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat until fairly hot. Add onion and saute just until soft and translucent, about 5 to 8 minutes.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Step 2:\u00a0 Add and Simmer Cucumber<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>4 cups cucumber, halved vertically and then sliced about 1\u201d thick (from about 3-4 med. pickling cucumbers)<\/li>\n<li>1 cup chicken or vegetable broth<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Add cucumbers and broth to onion, cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer about 15 to 20 minutes until cucumbers are tender but not mushy when tested with a fork, stirring occasionally to cook evenly.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>Step 3: Add Seasonings and Garnish<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00bd cup lightly packed parsley leaves<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 to \u00bd cup fresh dill fronds, loosely packed, to taste<\/li>\n<li>1 Tbsp. lemon zest (from about 1 lemon)<\/li>\n<li>\u00bd tsp. sugar<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 to 1\/2 tsp. sea salt, to taste<\/li>\n<li>Freshly ground pepper to taste<\/li>\n<li>2 tsp. butter<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Freshly squeezed lemon juice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Optional Garnish<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Finely chopped nuts (e.g., hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, almonds<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">To cooked cucumbers stir in parsley, dill, zest, sugar, salt, pepper and butter. Process in a blender (preferably a Vitamix) until very smooth, being sure to cool before processing.<\/p>\n<p data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">Taste and adjust seasonings, adding additional dill, salt and pepper, as desired. Serve at room temperature or chilled with a squeeze of fresh lemon and, if desired, a sprinkling of chopped nuts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>NOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Cucumbers<\/span> Being mostly water, they can be fairly bland tasting. What can help: First, cucumbers are best in summer as they are a hot-weather crop, so save this soup for hot days of summer. Second, pickling cucumbers are generally more flavorful than regular cucumbers. You may have to visit a farmers market to find them but if you can\u2019t, then a couple regular cucumbers can be substituted.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6393\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6393\" style=\"width: 449px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-6393\" src=\"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/20240724_113354_HDR-300x225.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"459\" height=\"344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/20240724_113354_HDR-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/20240724_113354_HDR.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 459px) 100vw, 459px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6393\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The smaller cucumbers are pickling cucumbers while the larger ones are the regular slicers found in most grocery stores.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Dill<\/span> It is a very tasty but fairly strong herb, so go slow with it. Start with just 2 Tbsp and then add more as desired. Dried dill can be substituted, about 1-2 tsp. up to 2 Tbsp.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This soup calls for cooking the cucumbers, which may seem odd, but once cooked they blend nicely for a velvety smooth soup. Also, if you have trouble eating raw cucumbers you may be able to enjoy them if they are cooked first. Can be served at room temperature or chilled. Serves: 4 (as a main &#8230; <a title=\"Recipe: Cucumber Dill Soup\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/recipe-cucumber-dill-soup\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,13,23],"tags":[514,515],"class_list":["post-6389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recipes","category-local-and-sustainable-eating","category-seasonal-eating","tag-seasonal-cooking","tag-seasonal-eating","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6389"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6399,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6389\/revisions\/6399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}