Chilled Cucumber soup with mint pesto
Cold curried cucumber soup
with mint ginger pesto
To make serving dinner outdoors a success, you need two things: a beautiful evening and a plan. The trick is to prepare most of the meal ahead of time so that you can join in the conversation and not be rushing in and out of the house.
Cold soups, for instance, are a snap to make and easy to present; shooter glasses make it a lovely little starter before dinner while larger glass mugs, martini glasses or water glasses give it a summery feel. Rim the glasses with salt or mint pesto and add a stick of cucumber to garnish.
In this soup, the mint pesto gets a little dark when it sits for too long so make it right before dinner if you want the brightest green colour. The taste will not change.
Servings: Serves 4 as a first course, 8 as hors d'oeuvre.
Ingredients
1 English cucumber, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 cups watercress leaves
½ cup chopped green onions
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon Indian curry paste
2 cups buttermilk
Salt to taste
Mint ginger pesto
2 cups mint leaves
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons yogurt
Method
Combine cucumber, watercress, green onions, ginger, garlic and curry paste in a food processor and process until chunky. Add buttermilk and process until smooth. Season with salt.
Combine mint leaves and ginger in a food processor or mini-chop. Add vegetable oil and yogurt and purée.
Place soup in shooter glasses and swirl pesto over soup. Serve before dinner as hors d'oeuvre or spoon into soup bowls and serve with dinner.
