Chilled Almond and Cucumber Breakfast Soup with Chives
Blanched almonds, cucumber, garlic, and cold skyr blended until silky and pale, sharpened with cider vinegar, and served in bowls under chopped toasted almonds, diced cucumber, hemp seeds, and chives.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Ajo blanco is the white gazpacho of Andalusia, almonds and garlic and bread pounded together and served under a hot sun, and this is my breakfast version of it. Cold skyr goes in for body, cucumber goes in for freshness, and the blender does in three minutes what a mortar used to do in twenty. There is nothing to cook. On the July mornings when the kitchen is already warm at seven and the idea of a pan is unbearable, this is what I want, and it takes fifteen minutes from the cupboard to the table with a blender doing most of the standing around.
The texture is the reason to make it. Blended long enough, almonds break down into something between cream and milk, and against the tang of skyr it turns thick and glossy and coats the back of a spoon. Then you want contrast on top: cucumber cut into small dice so it stays cold and crunchy, a spoonful of chopped almonds that were toasted while the blender ran, hemp seeds, chives, and a thread of olive oil. Every bowl should have something to bite in it, or the whole thing goes soft and one-note halfway down, which is the one way this dish can disappoint you.
I make this in a double batch in high summer and keep it in a jar in the door of the refrigerator, where it gets better for about two days. It suits a morning after a hard run, it suits a day when the thought of eggs turns your stomach, and it works just as well at four in the afternoon as it does at breakfast. Serve it very cold, colder than you think, in bowls that have been in the freezer for ten minutes if you have the room, and put a spoon in the jar for whoever finds it next.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups blanched almonds, divided
- 1 3/4 cups plain nonfat skyr, cold
- 2 English cucumbers, divided
- 3 tbsp hemp seeds
- 1/3 cup chives, cut into short batons
- 1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus a little for the bowls
- 4 tsp cider vinegar
- 2 small garlic cloves, peeled and green shoot removed
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Toast a handful of almonds: Set aside a scant half cup of the almonds and toast them in a dry skillet over medium heat for three or four minutes, shaking often, until they smell warm and take on color at the edges. Tip them onto a board to cool, then chop them coarsely for the top.
- Prepare the cucumber: Cut one and a half cucumbers into rough chunks for the blender. Dice the remaining half into small neat cubes for the garnish and keep them in the refrigerator so they stay cold and crisp while you work.
- Blend the base: Put the untoasted almonds, the cucumber chunks, the skyr, the garlic, the vinegar, the olive oil, the salt, and the pepper into a blender with a cup of ice water. Run it on high for two to three minutes, stopping once to scrape down the sides. It will look grainy at ninety seconds and then turn suddenly smooth and pale, and that is the moment to stop.
- Check the consistency and the seasoning: It should pour thickly, like heavy cream. Add cold water a tablespoon at a time if it is too thick to pour, and taste for salt and vinegar, which both need to be more assertive in a cold soup than they would be in a warm one. If it is not cold enough to drink, blend in a few ice cubes.
- Serve with everything on top: Ladle into shallow bowls and scatter over the diced cucumber, the chopped toasted almonds, the hemp seeds, and the chives. Finish each bowl with a thread of olive oil and a turn of pepper, and take it to the table straight away while the almonds are still crunchy.
Variations
- Green grape and mint: Halve a small handful of cold green grapes over each bowl and add torn mint, which is the classic Andalusian finish.
- Cucumber and dill: Swap the chives for a generous handful of chopped dill and add an extra squeeze of lemon for a version that leans Nordic.
- Smoked paprika oil: Warm a teaspoon of smoked paprika in two tablespoons of olive oil off the heat and drizzle the red oil over the pale soup.
- Shrimp on top: Pile a few cold cooked shrimp in the middle of each bowl for a heartier version that eats like lunch.
Storage & Leftovers
The blended base keeps three days in a sealed jar in the refrigerator and improves on day two as the garlic settles into it. Shake or whisk before serving, since almond soups separate slightly as they stand and the water rises to the top.
Keep the garnishes apart and add them at the last minute. Diced cucumber weeps in the soup and toasted almonds go soft within an hour, and both of them are the reason the bowl is interesting.
This does not freeze. The almond emulsion breaks on thawing and comes back grainy no matter how hard you blend it. If you want to work ahead, soak and drain the almonds the night before and the blending takes half the time in the morning.
Notes & Tips
- Blend longer than you think: Almonds go from gritty to silky quite suddenly, usually around the two minute mark. Stopping early is the single most common reason a bowl of this feels sandy.
- Use ice water, not tap water: Blenders generate real heat, and a soup that comes out lukewarm has to sit in the refrigerator for an hour before it is worth eating. Ice water keeps it cold enough to serve immediately.
- Pull the green shoot from the garlic: That center germ is what turns sharp and bitter in a dish where the garlic is not cooked. Split each clove and flick it out with a knife tip.
- Season it colder than you think it needs: Cold dulls both salt and acid on the tongue. Taste, adjust, then taste again once it is properly chilled, because it will almost always want a little more.
- Keep the garnish bowl in the refrigerator: Diced cucumber left on the counter goes limp in ten minutes. Cut it first, chill it while you blend, and it hits the hot morning cold and crunchy.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Almonds, skyr, and cucumber make this work as a morning meal rather than a refreshment. The almonds bring fat and fiber, the skyr brings protein and the sour edge, and the cucumber keeps the bowl light on the tongue even though there is real substance in it.
- Almonds blended into liquid give up their fat and turn a thin mixture creamy, and the same nut carries vitamin E and a useful amount of calcium along with the fiber that comes with eating them whole rather than strained.
- Skyr is strained for hours until it is dense and tangy, which is why a modest amount of it thickens four bowls, and that concentration is where its protein and calcium come from.
- Hemp seeds are soft enough to disappear into a spoonful and still add a green, grassy note over the top, and they carry protein and magnesium in a seed small enough to scatter freely.
- Cider vinegar, garlic, and black pepper are what keep this from tasting like a milkshake. Cold food needs sharper seasoning than warm food does, and the vinegar in particular is what makes the last spoonful taste as bright as the first.
- As you eat, feel how cold the first spoonful is against a warm morning and notice the crunch of almond and cucumber breaking the smoothness, and let the bowl slow you down before the day starts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do the almonds need soaking?
Not with a high-speed blender, though soaking them for four hours or overnight in cold water gives a noticeably silkier soup and cuts the blending time. If your blender is an ordinary one, soak them.
Can I use almond butter?
Yes, and it is the fastest route of all. Use a scant cup of smooth almond butter in place of the whole almonds, blend it with the skyr and cucumber, and keep the toasted chopped almonds on top so there is still texture in the bowl.
It tastes flat. What is missing?
Almost always salt or acid, and cold food needs more of both. Add vinegar half a teaspoon at a time until the soup tastes lifted rather than sour, then salt in small pinches. A second small garlic clove is the other thing that wakes it up.
Is this a breakfast or a starter?
Both, and Spanish cooks would look at you strangely for serving it in the morning. I do it anyway on hot days, and the bowl is substantial enough that nothing else is wanted with it.