This cucumber gazpacho with grapes is the most refreshing, savory, cold soup you will have this summer! The savory/sweet mix with with herbs, cucumbers and other flavors creates almost like a natural electrolyte replenishment!
Cold Soup or Gazpacho?
Around the Mediterranean we all make cold soups, some known as gazpacho, some known as tarator. They can be veggie blends with olive oil, garlic, herbs or yogurt mixed with cucumbers and herbs. Toppings also can vary not only from country to country but sometimes from region to region.
So you can call this recipe a cucumber cold soup with grapes or cucumber gazpacho with grapes, it’s up to you:).
Why are cold soups prevalent in the Mediterranean?
In Albania, Greece, Spain, Italy, Turkey etc etc a lot of people go by their day to day walking from place to place or a combination of walking and public transportation. This has created the need of natural electrolyte replenishment which cold soups that have some salt and some sweet in them fulfill perfectly!
Two other cold soups that I often prepare in summer time are Albanian tarator and Zucchini cold soup with yogurt.
Serving cold soups
You can serve this cucumber cold soup or cucumber gazpacho as a starter before a hot meal. The starter will help get cool you off, settle and open your appetite for a bigger plate. Or you can also enjoy this cold soup in a cup with a little skewer garnish. I use both at home depending on the occasion.
Just this past summer we attending a beautiful outdoors wedding in Girona, Spain and during the reception they served different gazpachos in small cups which were adorable.
Which method do you prefer? Plate or cup?
Ingredients
I use few and simple ingredients for this cucumber green gazpacho.
- English cucumber – I love to use English cucumber, they have less seeds. If you can’t find English cucumbers, I suggest you remove the seeds from the other cucumber types.
- Yogurt – you can use Greek yogurt, regular whole milk yogurt or homemade yogurt. It’s important for yogurt to be flavorless (no sweet or vanilla). Depending on yogurt type you might have to add few tablespoons of water to adjust consistency.
- Olive oil – There are rarely any Mediterranean dishes without olive oil, we even add it to cakes, so no surprise this cold soup has olive oil. It’s important to have a good quality olive oil though.
- Spinach – I can add spinach to any dish, it’s so easy to hide in especially if you’re blending.
- Garlic – rule of thumb for this cold soup is 1 garlic clove per serving. However, you can adjust up or down to your preference.
- Sea salt – I love using Mediterranean sea salt, I swear it makes a difference flavor wise to everything savory that I cook. Maybe I’m biased though!
- Mint – fresh mint adds such a refreshing flavor but don’t add too much because it can overpower the cold soup.
- Dill – fresh dill brightens up every dish, it’s so elegant and flavorful. This dish needs fresh dill, please don’t use dry for this one.
- Grapes – so grapes look like they’re only garnishes in this dish but they’re actually an integral part of the dish even though they only appear on top. Since this is a cold soup with strong herbs, salt, garlic, yogurt flavors the sweetness of the grapes balances everything out! Believe me they elevate this cold soup from good to amazing:).
To make the green cold soup, just mix all ingredients together and blend. Pour on a soup bowl, plate or cup. Then chop some cucumbers, mint, dill and slice grapes. Add those as garnishes. Feel free to get creative here to make the gazpacho pop:).
Cucumber Gazpacho with Grapes
Equipment
- 1 Blender
Ingredients
- 1 English cucumber use ¾ of the cucumber for the soup and ¼ as garnish
- 2 cups yogurt
- 4 tbsps olive oil
- 2 ozs spinach
- 4 garlic cloves
- 0.5 tsp sea salt
- 10 mint leaves 8 leaves for soup and 2 for garnish
- 3 tbsps dill 2 tbsps for soup and 1 for garnish
- 20 green grapes you can always add more, use this as a guidance
- cold water as needed
Instructions
- Chop ¼ of the cucumber, set it aside for garnish. Sliece the other ¾ of the cucumber for the gazpacho.
- Add yogurt, sliced cucumber, spinach, olive oil, sea salt, garlic, mint leaves and dill to blender. Mix in pulses then in blend function. Add some cold water, few tablespoons at a time as needed. Also check for flavor and adjust for salt at this point. Chill the soup for 30 minutes.
- Pour cold soup into plates or cups.
- Chop the remaining cucumber into small cubes. Slice the grapes. If serving in plates garnish with cucumber cubes, sliced grapes, remaining mint and dill. If serving in cups, add cucumber slices and grapes in skewer and garnish the cups that way. It's option to add the herbs as garnishes if you're serving in cups.
- Enjoy:)
Nutrition Label
Nutrition
If you would like to save this recipe for later, please pin one of the images from this post to your boards in Pinterest. Feel free to leave me comments about your favorite cold soup, of if you made this recipe what do you think about it. Thank you for reading my blog, it means a lot to me and my family!!
More Summer Recipes
If you came across this recipe, chances are you are looking for more summer refreshing recipes:). Feel free to check these other recipes from my blog!
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