{"id":255,"date":"2014-02-23T13:34:41","date_gmt":"2014-02-23T19:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pcandres.com\/?p=255"},"modified":"2015-11-06T15:51:25","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T21:51:25","slug":"my-cucumber-my-self","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/?p=255","title":{"rendered":"My Cucumber, My Self"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none\"><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fthesoupblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D255&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=true&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;width=450&amp;height=30\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width: 450px; height: 30px;\"><\/iframe><\/div><div id=\"attachment_260\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Cucumber-Blog-004.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-260\" class=\"wp-image-260\" title=\"Cucumber Blog 004\" src=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Cucumber-Blog-004-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Cucumber-Blog-004-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Cucumber-Blog-004-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-260\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cuke-lear Option<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The cucumber is soft-spoken.\u00a0 It\u2019s flavor is neither strong nor brash.\u00a0 As a result it\u2019s a vegetable that often doesn\u2019t get a lot of respect. You might even say it\u2019s the Rodney Dangerfield<strong>*<\/strong> of vegetables.<\/p>\n<p>At best the cucumber is a supporting player adding texture and crunch to other ingredients that hog the spotlight.\u00a0 In gazpacho, you think of the garlic, peppers or tomatoes.\u00a0 In cucumber sandwiches, it\u2019s the bread and butter or cream cheese.\u00a0 And in salted cucumber slices, even the salt steals focus from this hapless crunchy food.\u00a0 It\u2019s not unlike the rice cake in the world of starches\u2014whatever you put with it, on top of it, even in the same room with it, becomes what the particular dish is about.<\/p>\n<p>I have not, let\u2019s be honest, ever consciously identified with the cucumber, but maybe it\u2019s time. I have real sympathy for the cucumber\u2019s plight and understand very well what it\u2019s like to be overshadowed by a friend or colleague. In truth, my problem has long been not so much that I am watery and subtly flavored, but that I make my witty comments under my breath so no one hears my comedic gems unless they happen to be right next to me.\u00a0 In grade school this meant that sixth grade joke poachers (you know who you are Scott Woosley) could rebroadcast my best lines and receive full credit for them.<\/p>\n<p>So there is something personal in the recipe this week as I honor the cucumber and try to give it some long overdue recognition. And I can tell you that given this chance to shine, the cucumber has humbly done so.<\/p>\n<p>There are a lot of cucumbers in this soup\u2014four to be exact.\u00a0 Yet in typical fashion, they don\u2019t force their way onto your tastebuds, they just somehow arrive there. (Maybe the spoon plays a part here.) I have this vegetable sharing the bill with such powerful flavors as garlic, dill and sour cream, yet this soup is all about the cucumbers.\u00a0 The competing flavors are present in every spoonful but the cucumber base is what brings the whole thing together.\u00a0 This soup also holds up well either hot or cold, something that cannot be said for a lot of soups.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I make no claim to be the one who discovered cucumbers or even brought them into their own. But I do think this recipe gives them the respect they deserve.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe there\u2019s a lesson here that we mumblers can take away from this posting.\u00a0 But then, who would admit to getting life lessons from a vegetable?<\/p>\n<p><strong>*Note:<\/strong> to those of you unfamiliar with Rodney Dangerfield, he is the cucumber of comedians.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cucumber Dill Soup<\/strong><br \/>\n(serves 6-8)<br \/>\n1 tablespoon butter<br \/>\n\u00bd cup onions, chopped<br \/>\n2 cloves garlic, minced<br \/>\n4 cups vegetarian or chicken stock<br \/>\n4 medium cucumbers, peeled and chopped<br \/>\nSalt &amp; pepper, to taste<br \/>\n\u00bc cup dill, finely chopped<br \/>\n\u00bd cup sour cream<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Heat the butter in a 3-quart sauce pot over medium heat, add onions and saut\u00e9 until tender (about 5 minutes) , stirring occasionally.<\/li>\n<li>Add garlic and continue to heat (1-2 minutes more),<br \/>\nNote:\u00a0 If garlic starts to burn, quickly add stock to save it. (I hate burned garlic.)<\/li>\n<li>Add stock, cucumbers and seasoning, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and continue simmering for 30-45 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>Remove from heat and puree with an immersion or standing blender.<\/li>\n<li>Return to heat, add dill and simmer for 10-15 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>Stir in sour cream and serve or cool down the soup and serve chilled. It\u2019s delicious either way.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>Photo of author by Caroline Andres, copyright 2010.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Comments? Questions? Requests?\u00a0 My inspiration comes from a wide range of sources.\u00a0 Why not join the conversation and add your particular flavor to the mix.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be listening <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">and<\/span> responding.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The cucumber is soft-spoken.\u00a0 It\u2019s flavor is neither strong nor brash.\u00a0 As a result it\u2019s a vegetable that often doesn\u2019t get a lot of respect. You might even say it\u2019s the Rodney Dangerfield* of vegetables. At best the cucumber is a supporting player adding texture and crunch to other ingredients that hog the spotlight.\u00a0 In [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,57,48,64,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cold","category-cucumber","category-dairy","category-herbs","category-vegetarian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2292,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions\/2292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}