Cold Beet And Cucumber Soup Recipes

SUMMER BORSCHT

Steps:

• Place the beets in a large pot of boiling salted water and cook uncovered until the beets are tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove the beets to a bowl with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve and also set aside to cool.
• In a large bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups of the beet cooking liquid, the chicken stock, sour cream, yogurt, sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, 1 tablespoon salt, and the pepper. Peel the cooled beets with a small paring knife or rub the skins off with your hands. Cut the beets in small to medium dice. Add the beets, cucumber, scallions, and dill to the soup. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Season, to taste, and serve cold with a dollop of sour cream and an extra sprig of fresh dill.

CHILLED BEET SOUP WITH BUTTERMILK, CUCUMBERS, AND DILL (CHLODNIK)

Steps:

• Using a large knife, separate greens and stems from beets. Thoroughly wash greens and stems; set aside. Scrub beets, transfer to a medium pot, and cover with 1" water. Cover pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, uncover, and cook until beets are tender when pierced with a knife, about 10 minutes. Drain beets; discard cooking liquid. Let cool.
• Meanwhile, chop beet greens and stems. Transfer to a large pot and add 1/2 tsp. salt and 4 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer, without boiling, until greens are tender, about 5 minutes. Let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
• Peel and coarsely grate beets, preferably wearing gloves. Add to pot with cooled greens. Gently stir in cucumbers, pickle, pickle brine, buttermilk, sour cream, and scallions. Season with salt and pepper.
• Cover pot and chill soup at least 30 minutes. Adjust seasonings, if desired. Divide soup among bowls; top with eggs and dill.
• Do Ahead
• Soup can be made 2 days ahead; cover and chill.

BEET GAZPACHO

Steps:

• Place beets in a medium pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Turn heat down to low and simmer until fork tender all the way through, about 60-90 minutes. Rinse with cold water.
• Once beets are cold, slip off their skins using your hands. Slice and place 3 of the 4 beets (saving one) in a blender with 2 cups cold water, or cold veggie stock). Add half of the chopped onion (about ⅛ cup) , 2 garlic cloves, 2 sliced Turkish cucumbers (saving one) salt, pepper, vinegar and about ⅔ of the fresh dill ( saving some for garnish). Blend until very smooth. Taste and adjust salt and vinegar. Place in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
• Prep the garnishes. Finely dice the remaining beet, cucumber, avocado and chop the remaining dill. Pour chilled beet soup (the colder it is, the better) into bowls. Top with the garnishes. Drizzle with a little olive oil or a swirl of yogurt or sour cream if you like. Serve immediately!

DELPHEY'S COLD CUCUMBER SOUP WITH BEET MOUSSELINE

Steps:

• In a large heavy saucepan cook onion and 1 tablespoon dill in oil over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened. Add broth, lemon juice, and cucumbers and simmer 20 minutes. In a blender purée mixture in batches until smooth and cool. Stir in white pepper and salt to taste. Chill soup, covered, until cold, at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.
• Force soup through a sieve into a bowl and whisk in sour cream and remaining 2 tablespoons dill.
• Serve soup topped with a dollop of beet mousseline and garnished with dill sprigs.

COLD BEET SOUP FOR SUMMER

Steps:

• Drain beets, reserving liquid.If using whole or sliced beets, slice into matchstick pieces.Peel and dice cucumber. (I like fairly large dice.).
• Hold back about 3/4 cup of julianned beets in a seperate bowl.Add remaining beets and chopped cucumber to a large bowl. Add reserved beet juice,14 oz. of water and 2 tablespoons vinegar.
• Stir about 1/2 cup of sour cream into the beets you held in the seperate bowl.(this process keeps the sour cream from "breaking up" in the soup and making lumps.)Stir until the sour cream/beet mixture is smooth. Add another 1/2 cup of sour cream. Stir until smooth. Add 1/4 cup of the beet juice from the large bowl and stir until smooth.Stir in the last 1/2 cup of sour cream. Mixture should be without lumps (sour cream should be liqified.)This seems complicated, but once you get the hang of it, it goes quite quickly.
• Add the beet/sourcream mix to the large bowl and stir to combine. At this point, taste to see if the level of vinegar is to your liking, if not add a little more.
• Add the dried dill. The 2 tsp is a good place to start, but I usually add more.
• Cover and chill at least 2 hours.Serve in chilled bowls. My mom adds chopped hard boiled eggs to this soup, so if you want to give that a try it's up to you,.

NINA'S RUSSIAN COLD BEET SOUP (KHOLDNYK)

Steps:

• Mix the buttermilk, cucumber, beets with their juice, green onions, dill, salt, and vinegar in a bowl; stir to mix thoroughly, and chill, covered, in refrigerator at least 2 hours or overnight for best flavor. Serve cold.