Cool cucumber and buttermilk soup “Island Garden”
Always store cucumbers in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator. For salads, it's often advisable to halve them lengthwise, scoop out the watery seeds with a spoon, and use them for something else, such as smoothies. This prevents the salad from becoming watery.
Ingredients · Servings 4
- 300g smoked eel (skinned and filleted by the fishmonger, ask for bones and skin to be included)
- 300 g peas in the pod (or 120 g frozen peas)
- Salt
- 200 g Organic Salad Gherkins
- 300 ml buttermilk
- 2 sprigs of dill
- 2 sprigs of parsley
- 4 leaves of borage
- 4 branches of burnet
- 250 g sour cream
- 1-3 tsp white wine vinegar (or alternatively herb vinegar or tarragon vinegar)
- Linseed oil
- 1/2 slice of pumpernickel
- a few stalks of chives
- 100 g Büsumer Crabs
- Daisy heads
- Dill blossom
- Herb tips (optional)
Method · 40 min
- Boil eel bones and skin with 100 ml of water in a pot and reduce by half. Strain and let the eel smoke stock cool.
- Shell the peas and cook them in boiling salted water for 3 minutes. Drain and cool in cold water.
- Peel the cucumber, roughly dice it, and purée it in a blender with the buttermilk, dill, parsley, borage, and salad burnet. Transfer to a bowl, stir in the sour cream and the eel smoked stock. Season the buttermilk soup with vinegar, 1 tablespoon of linseed oil, and salt.
- Finely crumble the pumpernickel. Finely chop the chives. Divide the soup and peas among bowls. Cut the eel fillets into bite-sized pieces and add them to the soup along with the crabmeat. Sprinkle with chives and crumbled pumpernickel, drizzle with a little linseed oil. Optionally, garnish with daisies, dill blossoms, and herbs, and serve.
When it comes to cucumbers, it's essential to choose organic quality. Only organic cucumbers have freshness, flavor, and an untreated skin.
