Chilled Cucumber Dill Soup


Boil a peeled potato in a sauce pot till it becomes soft.  Drain off the water.  Mash the potato till it becomes very smooth.  Add some milk and cream.  Add a little bit of minced onion, sea salt and white pepper. 
     Bring the soup base to a boil while stirring.  The soup base, thickened with potato, should be a thin consistency.  Remove from heat and cool the pot completely. 
     After the soup base is chilled to just less than room temperature, add some chopped fresh dill.  Peel, seed and fine chop a cucumber.  Add the chopped cucumber to the soup. 
     Serve in a shallow bowl with a dill sprig and sliced scallion garnish. 
     The soup should be thin but not too thin like uncooked cream.  You want the cucumber and dill to be suspended in the cream soup.  The mashed potato makes this easy. 
     I have seen some terrible chilled cucumber dill soups in restaurants.  Just using cold milk and cream is not good enough for this soup.  If you chill this soup too cold then you will not taste all the flavor.  This is a wonderful, tasty, elegant chilled soup for summer!  ...    Shawna