Taste this Cucumber and Wine Soup; do you like it? Not every cucumber soup has to be cold, this light summery soup is simple to make, and has an amazing and surprising flavor. I topped it off with a pastry ‘hat’ to give it a fancy look.
The soup is very easy to make and does not require a lot of prep work either. The pastry cover may be a little tricky as you cover the soup while it is hot. Work fast to avoid it from sliding into the soup.
During the time the soup bowls are in the oven, the pastry dough stretches and will billow up to forming a beautiful ‘dome’. This makes for a nice surprise when serving. The pastry cover can serve as an alternative to bread and toast, but you can also see it as just a cover, not something you have to eat. If you indeed only eat the soup, you’ll have a very light starter or lunch.
How to prepare this cucumber and wine soup?
Cut an onion in half and keep half for another recipe. Clean and slice the onion thinly. Same process for the cucumber. Cut in half, peel and slice paper thin. I used a mandoline, but of course by hand is fine as well, just make the slices thin.
The cucumber is an English cucumber, the long slim cucumber, that I have only seen wrapped in plastic here. Add a little pepper and bake in a little butter until soft and translucent. Then you add broth; chicken or vegetable. I prefer the chicken because it give a little more taste to the soup. Add wine and sour cream and cook it for about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper if needed. The soup part is done.
Now make the dome/cover/hat. Also very simple, you only need to work fast at this moment. Use the store-bought pastry dough, but feel free to make it yourself. Roll the pastry dough a little thinner, but not too thin. Too thick, it might not get done in the oven, unless you want to bake it black. Too thin is not good either because it may be too weak and will not billow up; it will fall into the soup and stays there.
Cut the dough to size, by placing you bowls up side down on the dough and cut a circle about 1 inch wider than the bowls. Beat the egg and coat the circles with this. Do it before you place the circles on the bowls. Once the dough is placed on the bowl, they have to go into the oven immediately. The dough is placed on bowls with steaming hot soup, so it can easily become soft and end up in the soup rather than over the soup. Another reason to do the coating before you place it on the bowls is the chance of punching wholes in the dough. You don’t want that to happen either.
Divide soup over 2 bowls, place the dough on the bowl, press the dough onto the rim of the bowl. Do not overdo this, just firm it down. Sprinkle dough with grated cheese, whatever you have on hand, as long as it melts. Place bowls on baking sheet and slide into the oven for approx. 10-15 minutes. If you take a peek half way through, you will most likely see that the dough took a plunge. Your heart will sink, oh boy, it didn’t work, but you will see it rise up again. That’s the beauty of the layers of pastry dough.
Voila, the Cucumber and Wine Soup is ready when the dough billows up, dough is brown and crispy. Now serve and enjoy!
Cucumber and Wine Soup
Ingredients
- 1/2 onion
- 1/2 cucumber
- 1/2 tablespoon butter
- 1.5 cups chicken stock
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 sheet pastry dough
- 1/2 egg
- 2 tablespoons grated cheese
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Clean the onion and cut in very thin rings. Peel the cucumber and slice in very thin slices, use mandoline or cut by hand.
- Heat the butter in pot and add the onions. Bake this slowly until the onions become transparent, approx. 5-7 minutes. Add the cucumber slices and bake another 5-7 minutes.
- Add the chicken stock, wine and sour cream and cook for another 10 minutes. Add salt & pepper to taste.
- In the meantime, roll the pastry dough out on your kitchen counter and make in impression with your soup bowls by pressing them, softly, upside down into the dough. Cut an additional 1 inch larger than the size of the soup bowls.
- Beat the egg and coat the cut circles of pastry dough.
- Divide soup over 2 bows. Place the dough on top of the soup bowls and press lightly onto the rim of the bowl.
- Sprinkle with grated cheese and place in the oven.
- Bake for approx.15 mnutes until dough forms a nice brown dome and is done.
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