I’ve been meaning to make gazpacho, but as soon as the first signs of summer appeared, so did the gazpacho. Like, all over the internet. They popped up like playboy bunnies out of Hugh Hefners fake birthday cake. That kinda ruined it for me. It’s not that I don’t like gazpacho, I absolutely do, but it’s just really boring to shoot a posting that everyone and their brother did as well.

So I decided to do a something else with my cucumber! Throw the gazpacho out the window (figuratively speaking) and do something different. Different is good. This is a really simple recipe and incredibly fast to prepare! It’s a creamy, tasty and refreshing summer soup in an almost tzatziki kind of way. We loved it here.

Ingredients:

1 cucumber
7 oz cream cheese
4 tbsp half and half
5 tbsp vegetable broth
flat-leaf parsley
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Directions:

* I’ve made a soup for two.

Peel a cucumber and take the seeds out with a spoon. Chop it in coarse pieces.

Transfer the cucumber pieces to a blender. Add a medium sized garlic clove that you cut in four, and throw in a large handful of flat-leaf parsley. Dill also works really well in this soup!

Cream cheese is another major part of this recipe. I opted for a low-fat version and mine was spiked with chives. Regular cream cheese is just fine, though. Or one with a little flavor added to it. Spoon in about 7 oz of cream cheese.

Add 1/2 a tsp coarsely grinded black pepper for a bit of zing, 1/2 a tsp salt and pour in 4 tbsp half and half (or regular cream), and 5 tbsp (cooled off) vegetable broth.

Blitz, blitz, blitz, and you end up with a wonderfully creamy soup in a wicked green color! Check the seasoning and adjust when needed. That’s it, folks, this soup took me all of 5 minutes to prepare.

Garnish with flat-leaf parsley, a few drops of cream and some black pepper. I served ours with a warm pita stuffed with feta cheese, thinly sliced red onion, roasted bell pepper strips and rocket (arugula) in a little oil and lemon juice dressing. Heaven!

Kay’s Recipe Card

Click here for printable size.