Beat the heat with this healthy Chilled Cucumber Soup!

It was crazy-hot in the Bay Area this weekend and my AC-less apartment was like a sauna. For pretty much everyone else in Canada and the USA this is totally normal, but for us in San Francisco we aren’t used to such extreme temperatures. At its peak, temperatures soared to 32C/91F and I retreated to the beach with my main squeeze and perhaps a watermelon beer or two.

CUCUMBERS+MINT+DILL+JALAPEÑO+LEMON

So what to make for dinner? There was no freaking way I was going to use the oven or stove, even in the evening it would be too hot. I was also a tad dehydrated because we pulled a rookie move and left our big bottles of water on the couch. Brutal! By the time we left the beach all we could think about were tall glasses of ice water and jumping into a cold shower.

I TRY TO SNACK ON CUCUMBERS WHEN WORKING A RED EYE FLIGHT. THEY’RE JAM PACKED WITH B VITAMINS AND GOOD CARBS, WHICH HELP GIVE YOU THAT MUCH NEEDED 4 AM PICK ME UP!

This Chilled Cucumber Soup is jam packed with flavor

When we got home, we were both exhausted from the sun and from not drinking enough water. I found myself craving things like cucumbers, watermelon and celery; foods with a high water content.  I listened to my body and decided to make a chilled cucumber soup for dinner. This recipe calls for Persian cucumbers but you could sub for a long English cucumber if they are more easily accessible.

Luckily I had all of the ingredients for this recipe at home, so that was half the battle. I was relieved I didn’t have to face the Trader Joe’s line at 530pm on a Sunday. I’m a self confessed Trader Joe’s-aholic. But that store at dinnertime, on a Sunday, is just utter madness!

This Chilled Cucumber Soup is totally a recipe you can feel great about eating!  It’s high in protein, low in calories and incredibly hydrating and nourishing for your body. It’s also a great source of vitamin B-6 (important for healthy eyes, skin, liver and hair) and B-12 (used to treat a variety of illness’s such as sleep disorders, depression, memory loss and vitiligo).

I LIKE TO SERVE THIS WITH DICED DILL PICKLES FOR AN EXTRA ZING!

I see this as the perfect appetizer for entertaining in the summer. Chilled Cucumber Soup is light, refreshing and cleanses your palette. Try serving this restoring soup in a tea cup and let your guest sip it, if they choose. It’s so refreshing and I’m sure they will appreciate it after a hot day in the sun.

I love to serve this with finely diced dill pickles for an extra vinegary zing . I used a tablespoon of my Garlicky Dill Pickles and I really enjoyed the contrast in flavors.

Stay Cool! xx

Chilled Cucumber Soup

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

3 hours

Total time

3 hours 15 mins

 

Let this refreshing soup be your relief from the heat! This chilled soup is perfect for those hot summer days when you just don't feel like using the oven or stove.

Author: Peony

Recipe type: Soup

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 4 Persian cucumbers, washed and diced (reserve ½ of one cucumber and do not put in the food processor)
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
• ⅓ cup fresh mint
• ¼ cup fresh dill, divided in two equal piles
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 cup greek yogurt
• ¼ cold water
• ¼ olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Add cucumber (remember to reserve half of one cucumber), jalapeño, mint, half of your dill(1 pile), garlic, shallot, lemon juice, olive oil, cold water and greek yogurt into the food processor or blender and pulse until smooth.
2. Transfer soup mixture into a large bowl and add the remaining finely diced cucumber and loosely torn dill leaves. This will add a nice texture a vibrant color to the soup.
3. Add salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
4. Leave in the fridge for at least 3 hours to chill or overnight for best results.
5. Garnish with a sprig of dill or finely chopped dill pickle for a zing!
6. Drizzle with olive oil, optional

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Classic Basil Pesto is my all time favorite recipe!

If you were to ask what food I could eat for the rest of my life, I would most definitely cut you off by saying ‘anything pesto!’. I’m OBSESSED and don’t foresee this changing anytime soon. I love classic basil pesto sooo much that when I get a dog, I’m going to name him pesto! Cute right? You must have a seriously good personality to rock a name like Pesto!

All jokes aside, classic basil pesto is so delicious and you can put it on anything.  After a few years of force feeding my partner pesto recipes, I’m happy to say he loves it almost as much as I do. You can’t go wrong with a classic basil pesto pasta or on home made pizza but lately I’ve been enjoying it over roasted vegetables, spread on fresh baked bread, in salad dressings and dips.

USE FRESHLY GRATED PARMEGIANO REGGIANO FOR BEST RESULTS

This recipe yields one cup of prepared pesto. If you’re not planning on enjoying the pesto right away, make sure you cover it with a thin layer of olive oil. This will keep it from turning brown and add longevity to your green pesto. Make sure the jar is sealed tightly and keep in the fridge for 3 days. I make this recipe a couple of times a month and normally double the recipe.

If you’re planning to freeze your pesto, don’t mix in the grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Wait until the pesto is defrosted and you’re ready to eat it, then mix it in. Parmigiano Reggiano loses a lot of its flavor once grated, so freshly grated parmesan will make for a more flavorful Pesto.

GET MAXIMUM SHELF LIFE BY STORING PINE NUTS IN FREEZER FOR UP TO 3 MONTHS

The ratios in pesto differ slightly depending on your specific taste. After making this recipe a few times, you’ll know how to make ‘your perfect pesto’.

Have fun! xx

Classic Basil Pesto

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

Author: Peony

Recipe type: Sauce, Dip, Spread

Serves: 1 cup

Ingredients

• 3 cups basil(preferably sweet basil), packed
• ⅛ cup pine nuts, toasted
• ⅛ cup walnuts, toasted
• 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• ¾ cup GOOD Olive Oil
• ½ cup Parmesan, freshly grated
• ¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
• ½ tsp salt

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients except for olive oil and parmigiano reggiano in the food processor and pulse.
2. With the motor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the feed tube and process, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl as needed,
3. Transfer to bowl and stir in parmigiano reggiano. You can also add parmigiano reggiano to food processor but I prefer the consistency of stirring it in.
4. If freezing, transfer to an air tight container and drizzle the remaining olive oil over the top. Add the parmesan when you're ready to eat the pesto, after de-thawing!

Notes

You can use all pine nuts or all walnuts, depending on preference and allergies. I use all walnuts when I'm cooking for my friend who is allergic to pine nuts.

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The post Classic Basil Pesto appeared first on The Peony Life.

This Tzatziki takes me back to Greece!

When my fiancé & I went to Greece it was a dream come true!  For almost two decades, traveling to Greece had been #1 on my bucket list. I dreamt of sunsets in Santorini, getting lost in the winding white alleyways, drinking ouzo in a taverna on the caldera and eating the best greek food of my life. I had been patiently impatiently waiting until I met ‘the one’ so to speak, because it seemed like such a romantic place and I didn’t want to go with just anyone. Luckily, when Rez came along he was quick to want to make that dream come true and we started planning an epic euro trip that would include the Greek islands for my birthday.

Elia (Olive) beach, Mykonos

I have no idea how much Tzatziki we consumed while in Greece but it was a lot! Rez was totally in his element, feeling so at home with the familiar foods from childhood. The Tzatziki in Greece was so thick & creamy and was always served on a shallow plate; never in a bowl.

Straining yogurt is an important part of making traditional Tzatziki

Why could I never get it quite right at home? What was I missing? I usually ended up with a runnier Tzatziki, most certainly not the thick spread I was served in Greece. After asking around at a few of the smaller tavernas, I learned that they were straining their yogurt to make a yogurt cheese. It’s similar to a soft cream cheese. The Lebanese culture also does this to make labneh. Ideally, you would strain it for up to 48 hours, but you can cheat and speed up the process for this recipe (I do it all the time). You just need a strainer, cheesecloth and a large bowl to catch the liquid as it drops from the yogurt.

The yogurt will shrink in size by half when strained. If the recipe called for 1.5 cups of strained yogurt, you need to start with 3 cups.

Cut cheesecloth into 6-8 18 inch pieces and layer them in the strainer. Sit the strainer inside the bowl to catch the liquid as it drips from the yogurt. Pour the yogurt into the center of the cheesecloth and pull up the sides of the cloth, bringing the ends together at the top and tying with a string. Place in the fridge and let it sit for an hour.

Nighttime in Fira, Santorini from our hotel room

In the meantime, grate your cucumbers. No need to peel them, just go ahead and start grating. You must use English cucumbers or the small Persian cucumbers for this recipe. Don’t use the wide, regular cucumbers because they are waxy and will give your Tzatziki a bitter taste. Put the grated cucumber in a another strainer and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp sea salt to help draw out the moisture from the cucumbers. If you’re in a rush, you can press down on the cucumbers to speed up the process. If you’re not in a rush, leave cucumbers in the fridge overnight or for 10-12 hours for best result.

Tzatziki, Olives and Fresh Baguette are great to serve your friends over cocktails.

After an hour take it out of the fridge and check the liquid in the bowl to make sure no yogurt is leaking. If there is yogurt in the bowl or coming out of the cheesecloth, it means you’re not using enough. If this is the case, cut a few more pieces of cheesecloth and tie with another string. No biggy!

If you’re trying to speed up the process, you can gently start ringing out the liquid. You can repeat this every half hour of so depending on how much of a rush you’re in. Ideally, you would be able to keep it in the fridge with the cucumbers, overnight or for at least 10-12 hours. The longer you let it sit, the thicker it will be!

Fresh Mint & Dill are suggested for this recipe but dried herbs can be used in a pinch! Just make sure to leave Tzatziki in the fridge for longer to let the dried herbs soften into the spread.

Remove the yogurt out of the cheesecloth and voila Thats how you make yogurt cheese. It’s freaking simple eh? It just requires a little bit of your attention but its so worth it. If you want to do almost no work at all, leave it in the fridge for at least 24 hours so the liquid will drain out naturally.

Now all you have left to do is add all the other ingredients: cucumbers, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, dill and mint.

Kalí óreksi! xx Greek 

Tzatziki

 

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Author: Peony

Recipe type: Appetizer

Ingredients

• 1 large English cucumber or 5 Persian Cucumber, unpeeled and grated
• 1½ cups strained full-fat Greek yogurt (roughly 3 cups unstrained)
• 2 large garlic cloves, finely minced
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and more for drizzling
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 tbsp fresh dill, minced
• 3 tbsp fresh mint, minced

Instructions

1. Cut cheesecloth into 18 inch pieces and layer them in the strainer (I suggest using 6-8).
2. Put yogurt in the middle of the cheesecloth. Make sure you have a bowl under the strainer to catch the liquid. Gather the access cloth of the sides and tie at the tie with string. Put in the refrigerator.
3. Check after 1 hr to make sure the liquid dripping from yogurt is only slightly milky. If there are pieces of yogurt in the bowl, it means you're not using enough cheesecloth. In this case, add a few more layers and tie with another string.
4. Grate your unpeeled cucumbers and put into a strainer. If you're using English cucumber, make sure you remove the seeds first.
5. Add ½ tsp salt to the cucumbers to draw out the moisture. Leave it in the fridge overnight along with strained yogurt for 10-12 hours. If you're in a big rush, you can use your hands to press down on the cucumbers.
6. The next day remove the yogurt and cucumbers from the fridge and combine in a medium sized bowl. Add remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix them all together.
7. Refrigerate until ready to use.
8. Serve in a shallow plate and garnish by drizzling olive oil, olives and fresh herbs.

Notes

You will need cheesecloth and 2 strainers or colanders for this recipe.
To speed up the straining process for both the cucumber and yogurt, you can sprinkle a little kosher salt on top to help draw out the moisture.

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