Chef Ally
Cauliflower Soup with Capers and Lemon
A silky, ivory-colored soup that proves cauliflower needs nothing but good stock, a generous pour of olive oil, and the bright punctuation of capers and lemon to become something extraordinary.
Culinary Explorer
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Chilled Cucumber Soup with Yogurt and Fresh Dill
Created by
A pale green bowl of summer itself, where peak-season cucumbers meet tangy yogurt and fragrant dill in a soup so refreshing it feels like shade on a hot afternoon.
Soups & Stews
Mediterranean
Outdoor Dining
Make Ahead
Quick Meal
20 min
Active Time
0 min cook•2 hr 20 min total
Yield4 servings
This is the soup you make when the market is overflowing with cucumbers and the kitchen is too hot to turn on the stove. It asks almost nothing of you. Perfect ingredients need almost nothing done to them.
Seek out cucumbers that are firm, unwaxed, and smell green when you slice them. Local yogurt with real tang. Dill that was picked this morning if you can find it, or grow a pot on your windowsill. The ingredients do the work. You simply bring them together.
I learned this kind of cooking in the Mediterranean, where hot summers demand cold food and cooks have understood for centuries that the best response to heat is simplicity. A blender, a few hours of patience, and you have something genuinely restorative. Every meal is a meaningful choice, and this one says: slow down, stay cool, let the season feed you.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
English cucumbers
Quantity
2 pounds (about 3 large)
peeled and roughly chopped
whole milk yogurt
Quantity
1 1/2 cups
garlic
Quantity
1 small clove
minced
extra-virgin olive oil
Quantity
3 tablespoons, plus more for drizzling
fresh lemon juice
Quantity
2 tablespoons (about 1 lemon)
fresh dill fronds
Quantity
1/4 cup packed, plus more for garnish
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste
white pepper
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
freshly ground
cold water (optional)
Quantity
1/2 cup
flaky sea salt
Quantity
for finishing
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| English cucumberspeeled and roughly chopped | 2 pounds (about 3 large) |
| whole milk yogurt | 1 1/2 cups |
| garlicminced | 1 small clove |
| extra-virgin olive oil | 3 tablespoons, plus more for drizzling |
| fresh lemon juice | 2 tablespoons (about 1 lemon) |
| fresh dill fronds | 1/4 cup packed, plus more for garnish |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| white pepperfreshly ground | 1/4 teaspoon |
| cold water (optional) | 1/2 cup |
| flaky sea salt | for finishing |
Equipment Needed
- •High-speed blender or food processor
- •Fine-mesh strainer (optional, for extra-silky texture)
- •Shallow serving bowls, chilled
Instructions
- 1
Select your cucumbers
Start with the cucumbers. They should be firm, heavy for their size, and smell faintly of summer when you slice them open. English cucumbers work beautifully here because their seeds are small and their flesh is dense with flavor. Peel them, but taste a slice first. If the skin is tender and not bitter, leave some of it on for color.
Farmers market cucumbers picked that morning will have an aliveness that grocery store cucumbers cannot match. The difference shows in the finished soup. - 2
Blend until silky
Add the cucumber pieces to your blender with the yogurt, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, dill, salt, and white pepper. Blend on high until completely smooth and pale green, about one minute. The soup should pour like heavy cream. Add cold water a few tablespoons at a time if you prefer a thinner consistency.
- 3
Taste and adjust
Stop and taste. This is the moment that matters. The soup should be bright with lemon, cooling from cucumber, and grounded by the yogurt's tang. Adjust salt until the flavors open up. A pinch more makes all the difference between flat and alive.
Cold dulls flavor. Season the soup slightly more than you think it needs. After chilling, taste again and adjust. - 4
Chill thoroughly
Pour the soup into a large bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least two hours, or overnight. The flavors will marry and mellow as it rests. The soup becomes silkier as it sits, the cucumber releasing more of its essence into the base.
- 5
Serve cold
Ladle the chilled soup into shallow bowls. Drizzle generously with your best olive oil. Scatter fresh dill fronds across the surface and finish with a few flakes of sea salt. Serve immediately while everything is still cold. This soup does not wait.
Chef Tips
- •Buy cucumbers from someone who grew them. The difference between a cucumber picked yesterday and one picked last week is the difference between a good soup and a great one.
- •Use whole milk yogurt, not Greek. Greek yogurt makes the soup too thick and heavy. You want something that pours, something light enough to drink on a hot afternoon.
- •If you have access to fresh za'atar or a few leaves of mint, add them alongside the dill. The soup welcomes variation, but dill is the anchor.
- •This soup keeps for two days refrigerated but loses its brightness by day three. Make only what you will eat soon.
Advance Preparation
- •The soup must chill for at least two hours before serving. Overnight is better.
- •Blend the soup up to one day ahead and refrigerate. Add fresh dill garnish and olive oil just before serving.
- •Do not freeze. The texture breaks down completely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 370g)
Calories
185 calories
Total Fat
14 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
10 g
Cholesterol
12 mg
Sodium
480 mg
Total Carbohydrates
14 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
8 g
Protein
5 g
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