I made Paletas de Pepino con Limon y Chile (Cucumber Ice Pops With Lime & Chile)

A few weeks ago, during one of those really hot weeks, I got a lame summer cold! My throat really hurt, and I was drinking a lot of hot tea with lemon, honey, and cayenne pepper. The heat+spice felt really good on my throat, but the tea just made me sweaty and more uncomfortable in the nasty summer humidity.

Then I saw a post on the website The Kitchn all about sweet+spicy POPSICLES. The perfect thing to soothe my throat AND cool me off!!!

So I impulse bought some fancy popsicle molds (shaped like rocket ships!!!) and made the recipe below. They are also pretty healthy, which can't hurt when you have a cold! But the point is, you don't NEED to have a cold to enjoy these. They are refreshing, sour, spicy, a little sweet, and of course, nice and cold.

Paleta de Pepino con Limon y Chile (Cucumber Ice Pop With Lime & Chile)

Makes about 5/6 pops

* 2 cucumbers (about 2 pounds), peeled, seeded and chopped
* 1 tablespoon sugar - (I used honey because I thought it would taste good too.)
* 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
* 1/2 teaspoon habanero chile powder -- (OR you can totally substitute cayenne pepper, which is what I did. Just add a little (few pinches) at first, and then add more if you want to make it more spicy. Apparently you can find habenero powder at places like Whole Foods.)
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions: In a food processor (or hand blender), pulse all but 1/2 cup of the cucumber until smooth. Strain into a bowl; you should have about 2 cups juice. (I did not strain. It came out fine! But if you want a really uniform texture, go ahead and strain.)

Add the rest of the ingredients and pour about 1/3 cup of mixture into each mold. Freeze for at least 2 hours.

I made Summer Borscht in honor of my move to Greenpoint

Sometimes I see recipes on various websites and blogs that sound delicious, so I copy and paste them into an email, and send it to myself. Then I file them in a folder in my email entitled "RECIPES". The problem is, I sometimes forget to click on that folder when I am in the mood to cook something.

That is what happened with this recipe, which I originally saw on the blog Not Eating Out in New York. I emailed it to myself almost a year ago (October 13, 2009 to be exact) and only just thought of it and made it the other week.

As Laura mentioned, it has been HOT in NYC and this is a nice, chilled soup which only requires a tiny bit of stove time to make.

This was also the first real meal that I cooked in my new apartment in Greenpoint, and while I was making it, I realized how funny that my first cooking endeavor there would be borscht, since Greenpoint is a largely Polish neighborhood full of restaurants serving lots and lots of bowls of the famous soup. I think there was something subliminal going on here.

So this is the recipe, with my notes!


Jui Shih’s Summer Borscht
(makes about 6-8 servings)

about 5 medium-sized beets, boiled or roasted until tender, peeled and diced *I boiled the beets, which was nice and easy. You could also do this ahead of time if you want, because it is really the only time consuming element of the dish.
about 2 English cucumbers, diced - I used cucumbers that I bought at the Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Greenpoint too!! A very Greenpoint meal.
about 3-4 medium tomatoes, diced
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth (chilled or room temperature)
2 cups plain yogurt
1/4 cup red wine vinegar (or more to taste)
1 small bunch fresh dill, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
fresh lemon juice and zest to taste (optional) - I went for it.
chopped scallions or chives for garnish (optional) - I omitted.
sour cream to garnish (optional) - Omitted.


Reserve any juices from the beets, tomatoes and cucumbers while chopping and combine them in a large pot or bowl with the broth and yogurt. Add the vinegar, dill, a pinch of salt and pepper, and taste. Sugar can be added to cut the acidity as well, to taste. Add optional lemon juice and anything else to taste. Top each bowl with optional garnishes of chopped scallions or chives, extra dill, and/or a scoop of sour cream.

*I also used the hand blender a bit to make the soup a little thicker. I only blended it until the pieces of vegetable were a bit smaller and some had been pureed. I think the soup benefits from the texture of the crunchy veggies, so don't go overboard if you take this advice!*