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[Image] Cold Avocado-Cucumber Soup... Gordon Ramsay. With the warmer summer months we've been having lately I've managed to stay away from using the oven 90% of the time.... the cooktop is a bit more difficult, just because I'm so used to turning on the stove, even for warming things up. But I've been challenging myself to make as many of our meals as raw as I can.... a double blessing really, because this way we get more vitamins and stay cool:).

We love avocados, so I've been having quite a few of them on hand lately. Just love to use them in salads... but I'll also just slice them up and add it on our plates( purely for the health benefits, or maybe because we like avocados so much:). But one day, when I was about to slice up some of the avocados, I remembered a recipe I had seen in one of my cookbooks for a cold avocado soup recipe. Grabbed my book and was surprised to see that I had all the ingredients on hand to make the soup. Made a quick appetizer-style dish and enjoyed the freshness of it. Quick, simple to prepare... and a change from the way I use avocados. Hope you enjoy...

Note: While I chose to leave my soup a bit thick and chunky, you can easily puree it smooth and add a bit of water at the end to thin it out a bit.... and if you pass it through a fine sieve you'll get an even smoother soup.

You will need: adapted from Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food

2 large cucumbers, about 400g each, chilled
1 lemon, juice (or to taste)
2 ripe avocados
2 TBS Greek yoghurt
1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
Salt/black pepper
½ onion(red preferred, but I used white), finely chopped
1 plum tomato, deseeded and finely chopped
1 TBS olive oil
4 basil leaves, finely shredded
Cold water, if needed

cooked crabmeat/prawns/lobster, optional

Directions:

1. Peel the cucumbers and quarter lengthways. Remove the seeds if you like, but I didn't bother since mine were those small Persian cucumbers. Reserve a quarter of the cucumber as garnish... dice it and set aside to be used as garnish later. Roughly chop the rest, place in a blender and add half the lemon juice. Blend until smooth. I used a food processor for mine, but a blender should work better, especially if you want your soup super-smooth.

2. Cut the avocados in half and remove the pit. Dice one avocado half to use  later for the garnish and squeeze some lemon juice over the diced avocado. Set it aside with the diced cucumber. Add the rest of the avocados into the blender.

3. To the blender add the Greek yoghurt and Worcestershire sauce, then blend everything until very smooth. Season generously with salt and pepper, and then add some more lemon juice to taste. Chill until ready to serve.

4. For the garnish,  dice some red onion(or use a white onion) and a plum tomato and then combine it with the reserved diced cucumber and avocado. Toss with the olive oil and add some shredded basil.

5. Taste and adjust the chilled soup with extra seasoning. If it is too thick, you can add a splash of cold water. Pour into chilled bowls and top with some of the garnish in the center of each bowl. Add a drizzle of olive oil and some freshly ground pepper.

Optional: You can add some lump crabmeat, shrimp, or lobster for a light summer meal... and serve it with a slice or two of crusty bread.

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