Cucumber-Buttermilk Vichyssoise

Having a glut of cucumbers from our garden … did I tell you the cucumber story? No? Okay, I’ll digress for a moment. Every year we plant a small garden, mostly herbs, some grape tomatoes, and a zucchini or cucumber plant or two. I only plant one or two of those suckers because they grow like weeds, driving out everything else. You have to buy them in a pack of four though at our garden place. Well, this year, Chris did the planting, and I forgot to tell him only plant one or two cucumber plants, but yep, he planted all four, so we’re eating cucumbers all the time!

So anyway, with a glut of cucumbers that had to be used before my next trip, and a desire not to do any canning, I found this recipe. It was great too because I had some potatoes left from our CSA – I love when I can use up a lot of produce in a recipe that’s also freezable! Plus, other than a lot of chopping – this was very easy to put together.

We had this as a starter last night and it’s delicious. I’m freezing the rest today (it will keep up to a month in the freezer but you’ll have to puree the soup again before serving), and considering serving it at Rosh Hashanah. Hope you like it as much as we did.

Cucumber-Buttermilk Vichyssoise

Yield: 12 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup chopped Vidalia or other sweet onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 1/2 cups chopped seeded peeled English cucumber (about 3) – I used regular garden cucumbers
3 cups cubed peeled baking potato (about 1 1/4 pounds) – I had a combo from the CSA – red, yukon and who knows what else
3 (14-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth, divided
3 cups buttermilk
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
Thinly sliced cucumber

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and garlic to pan; cook 8 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring occasionally.

Add chopped cucumber, potato, and 2 cans broth to pan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until potato is very tender, stirring occasionally.

Place one-third of potato mixture in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Pour into a large bowl. Repeat procedure twice with remaining potato mixture. Cool.

Add remaining 1 can chicken broth, buttermilk, juice, salt, and pepper to cooled potato mixture, stirring well. Cover and chill. Garnish with thinly sliced cucumber (I added a bit of snipped chives to mine too).

This is 3 WW PPV (as of 12/5/2015).