White Gazpacho with Cucumbers and Grapes

Here’s your secret weapon for a late-summer heat wave. It’s hard to explain how utterly refreshing this soup is, lemony and slightly spicy with a hint of sweetness for mystery. Is it really white? No—palest green. Is it really a gazpacho? Who knows and who cares? It’s delicious and easy 
to make.

By | July 07, 2016

Ingredients

  • 1½ pounds Persian cucumbers
  • 4–5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1½ teaspoons sea salt, plus more to taste
  • 1 teaspoon fresh serrano chile, chopped
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish
  • 1 pound (2½ cups) seedless green grapes
  • 1 cup Greek-style yogurt
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • Chopped or sliced roasted almonds (optional)
  • Sliced green or red grapes 
(optional)

Instructions

Recipe and image from Vegan, Vegetarian, Omnivore by Anna Thomas. Copyright © 2016 by Independent Productions, Inc. With permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
 
Serves 5–6
 
Wash and trim the cucumbers. Test the ends for bitterness, and slice them. (These thin-skinned cucumbers don’t need to be peeled.) You should have about 4½ cups.
 
Put the cucumbers, 4 tablespoons lemon juice, garlic, salt and chile into a blender and puree. Add the olive oil and the grapes and puree until smooth.
 
Transfer the soup to a bowl and whisk in yogurt, grind in some black pepper and taste. Adjust the seasoning with a pinch more salt or a little more lemon juice 
if needed.
 
Chill the soup very well. Garnish each bowl of soup with a thin drizzle of oil and a scattering of almonds and grapes.
 
An omnivore way: A seafood garnish could be added on top of this soup—cold cooked shrimp or crab, tossed with some olive oil, lemon and a pinch of spicy pimentón.

Related Stories & Recipes

Ginger and Turmeric Coconut Soup

Michiana-grown ginger and turmeric from Clay Bottom Farm (Goshen, Indiana) inspire a warming Southeast Asian–style soup. Look for ginger at the farm's stall at the Goshen Farmers Market in late Septem...

Ingredients

  • 1½ pounds Persian cucumbers
  • 4–5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1½ teaspoons sea salt, plus more to taste
  • 1 teaspoon fresh serrano chile, chopped
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish
  • 1 pound (2½ cups) seedless green grapes
  • 1 cup Greek-style yogurt
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • Chopped or sliced roasted almonds (optional)
  • Sliced green or red grapes 
(optional)
We will never share your email address with anyone else. See our privacy policy.