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stuffed cucumber soup with zucchinis, mushrooms

2020-08-10+11+12

The classic recipe for stuffed cucumbers starts with a celery + potato soup.
I used celery and zucchinis for this one.
Zucchini season is in full swing, and anything that helps reduce that mountain of zucchinis is welcome.

I'm always look for variations and discovered that tomatoes are NOT a good idea with this. Zucchinis certainly are. This was great.

Potatoes seem to be essential. I tried without today, added them in afterwards because it felt like something was missing. The potatoes definitely improve the soup.

I tried poblano peppers in the meat mix this time, and that made it of the best meatballs recipes I have ever made. Meatballs often get 'washed out' in soup, but these still tasted like meatballs even after simmering for quite a while. I also used a full pound of mushrooms in soup and meat mix, but that flavor somehow disappeared completely.

I had soup for at least 4 days, and every day a change to make it a different soup each time.

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need for 8-12 servings:

• 4 large cucumbers
• 1/2 head celery
• 2 medium-large zucchinis
• 4 medium-large potatoes, peeled, diced
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 lb. ground pork
• 2 large poblano peppers
• 1 cup chopped onion & bell pepper mix
• 1 lb. white button mushrooms
• 2 eggs
• 1-2 cups breadcrumbs
• olive oil
• S&P, spices of your choice

Pic1: it looks like this

Directions

Preparations:

2020-08-10

Pic2-4: 

• Peel the cucumbers, cut each cuke in 3 pieces of similar length.
• Use an apple corer to remove the seeds.
• Wash the celery branches. Cut small.
• Wash and cut the zucchinis in thin slices.

 

Pic5-7: poblano peppers

• Wash the poblano peppers.
• Remove the core with seeds and slice the peppers in thin strips.
• Roast the peppers. I used a cast-iron pan and placed the peppers skin-side down.
  Push down with a spatula to keep good contact with the frying pan.
• When the skin has blistered and begins to blacken, remove and chop small.

 

Pic8-10: mushrooms

• Rub the mushrooms clean.
• Cut in thin slices. Divide in two piles.
• Chop half of the mushrooms small.

 

Pic11-13: meat mix

• Combine the ground meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, poblano peppers and chopped mushrooms in a large mixing bowl.
• Add S&P, seasoning of your choice to taste. I used a mixture of taco spices and 'Badia Complete.'
• Mix very well. I find it easiest to that with my hands.

 

Base soup:

Pic14-16: base soup

• Combine the celery, zucchinis, cucumber cores and sliced mushrooms with 2-3 qts. water / stock.
  I didn't add potatoes until the very end this time, but it is better to add them right from the start.
• Add S&P, seasoning to taste. I used salt and Knorr chicken bouillon.
• Bring to a roiling boil over medium heat.
• Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15-20 minutes.
• Adjust seasoning.

I usually eat a bowl of the base soup. This time I forgot and had already added the stuffed cucumbers before I gave it a try. (Pic19)

 

Pic17-19: with stuffed cucumbers

• Stuff the meat mix in the cucumbers.
• Add them to the soup.
• Simmer over medium heat for 20-30 minutes to fully cook the meat inside the cucumbers.
• If you intend to add meatballs to the soup, you can pan-fry those first and add them together with the stuffed cucumbers.
• Adjust seasoning.
• Serve another bowl of soup if you like.

 

Pic20-22: pan-fry meatballs

• Roll the remainder of the meat mix into meatballs.
• Pan-fry over high heat until both sides are dark brown.
• Reduce heat, cover and simmer over low heat for 20-30 minutes, until the meatballs are fully cooked throughout.
• If you are going to add them to the soup, halfway is enough. The soup will do the rest.

 

Pic23-25: with meatballs

• Add the meatballs and optionally also the meat drippings to the soup.
• Simmer 20-30 minutes until the meat is fully cooked and the cucumbers look glassy.

 

Pic26-28: served

• Serve and enjoy.

I prepared this soup in the late afternoon and refrigerated overnight before reheating and serving it.

• I cut a raw zucchini into the soup for just a few minutes right before serving. (Pic26+27)
• Later that day, I also added diced potatoes. (Pic28)

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b. with rice, blended, with rice noodles

2020-08-12: Day 3

Pic29-30: reheat, with rice

• On day 3, the cucumbers had fallen apart, but the soup was just as tasty.
  I did add extra celery.
• I served this with boiled rice.
• Leftovers were blended for later use.
  

Later that same day:

Pic31-33: rice noodles

• I diluted the blended soup 100% because it was much too thick to add noodles.
• Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the noodles.
• Wait 3-5 minutes and serve immediately.
• Enjoy.

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c. blended with cream

2020-08-14: Day 4

Pic5: with cream

• Reheat and add heavy cream to the bowl.
• Enjoy.

 

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