Ingredients

A small Kirby pickling cucumber

　　1 scallion

　　2/3 cup chicken broth

　　1/4 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

　　Salt and freshly ground pepper

　　A grating of fresh ginger

　　A generous sprinkling of chopped chives and fresh dill, if available

　　

Step 1

Peel the cucumber, and cut into chunks. Trim the scallion of coarse outer leaves, keeping the tender green; chop it and the white part into rough pieces. Put the cucumber and scallion along with the chicken broth and yogurt in a food processor or a blender, and spin until well blended. Season with salt and pepper and a grating of fresh ginger. Pour into a chilled soup bowl, and sprinkle the herbs on top.

　　

Variation

Step 2

Use fish stock instead of chicken broth, and add about 1/3 cup cooked salmon broken into flakes. Decrease the amount of yogurt to 2 teaspoons, and purée everything together in a blender or a food processor.

　　The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. Copyright © 2009 by Judith Jones. Published by Knopf. All Rights Reserved.Judith Jones is senior editor and vice president at Alfred A. Knopf. She is the author of The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food and the coauthor with Evan Jones (her late husband) of three books: The Book of Bread; Knead It, Punch It, Bake It!; and The Book of New New England Cookery. She also collaborated with Angus Cameron on The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook, and has contributed to Vogue, Saveur, and Gourmet magazines. In 2006, she was awarded the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. She lives in New York City and Vermont.