Steemit Iron Chef 2018 Act 01 Round 03 : Extra Cucumberly Soup

Another soup once again! It is winter, okay? I love warm stuff that cozies up to your belly! There is no making soups in summer(except cold soups) and I am using all the time I can get to enjoy some liquid food.

This week the main ingredient was cucumber and let me tell you, those veggies make the best soups, especially when you add salmon or shrimps to it. Cucumbers are very, very, extremely watery vegetables, they are filled with vitamins and can definitely stand out on their own in a dish.

The recipe that I made today is for those who are short on time and on the run. It takes 30 to 45 minutes to make the dish! Yes, you read that right! Yay! I love the soft flavor of cucumber and I enjoy it a lot when it is used in a salad but that was too often used to make a recipe out of it. You can eat this dish completely vegan, you can add some sea treasures to it, the cucumber taste will always be there, it is not possible to overpower it unless you are intentionally trying to. But then, why bother using cucumbers at all?

Where I come from, cucumbers are always accompanied by dill, they go together like a hand and a glove and, in my humble opinion, are the best companions. So, I used dill today, and the flavors that were most taste-able in the dish were cucumber, dill, and salmon.

This recipe will provide you with six servings (no extra leftovers for the second plate if you have a big family) is easy to make and takes little time.

Ingredients

3 big cucumbers
800 ml water or vegetable broth
vegetable mix(if you do not have the broth)
100 ml sweet cream
2 onions
a bundle of dill
100 g smoked salmon
salt and pepper
oil

If you are making your own broth from real veggies, prepare it first(it will expand the soups making process), you are on your own here :D

Otherwise, peel your onions and dice them into small pieces

Wash and peel the cucumbers, cut them in half and take out the seeds. To not waste the seeds, you can keep them for later or the following day, put them in a salad or how you see otherwise fit but in this dish, we, unfortunately, will not be using the seeds.

Take a pot and put oil in it, let it melt on high heat and then bring it down to a lower one

Add your onions in the pot and mix periodically, until lightly brown

Now, dice your half-cucumbers, it does not matter fat or thin, your choice. They are going to come out delicious either way. When you have cut them up, add them to the browned onions and let simmer for a couple of minutes

While your hands are free, take the dill and dice it up into tiny pieces. Depending on the eaters(if they like dill or not, in my house there is someone who does not like dill at all) you can put the dill in a separate bowl for garnishing of each preference, or add it in the soup when it is done.

Now, the cucumbers in the pot should be lighter so, you can add the broth to the pot.(I added water and three spoons of BIO veggie mix)

Bring the mixture to boil and then put the heat down to a sauté temperature. Put the lid on and leave for 10 minutes

Take the sweet cream and whip it until strong peaks appear

Take the salmon and slice it into smaller pieces

When the ten minutes have passed, take the pot off the stove and pour the cucumber mixture into a heat-resistant blender. Blend it all up. There will be no chunks and the soup is going to be rather liquid.

Pour the mixture back in the pot, add salt and pepper by the old and proven method of tasting and add dill if everybody in your household loves it, likes it or at least does not mind it.

Do not use the hard stem parts on the soup, they are not nice to chew, plus those stems have another use. You can save them for another soup you make and use them for taste in it.

Off topic
Take the stems of a dill and tie a non-colored thread around them, put them in the freezer if you are not using them soon or dry them(this is for the most patient people out there) and when you make another soup, just drop the tied up stems in your soup and they will give an extra nice taste to the dish

Your soup is ready now!

Pour it into a dish, add pieces of salmon, a spoon full of whipped cream and enjoy the savory tastes!

Hope you enjoyed this easy-to-make soup full of cucumberly flavor and lovely extras, it is an amazing non-heavy dish that is healthy and delish and can be interpreted in many ways! You can come up with your own idea as well!

Have the best day, today, tomorrow and forever,
Linda