• 450 g/1 lb new potatoes
• 1 cucumber
• 50 g/2 oz butter
• 1 small onion
• a generous litre/2 pints chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon castor sugar
• 1.5 dl/¼ pint single cream

Scrape the potatoes and cut them and the unpeeled cucumber into chunky pieces. Peel and chop the onion. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the prepared vegetables. Cover with a lid and cook gently for about 10 minutes to draw out the juices and soften the vegetables. Add the stock and bring up to the boil. Cover and allow to simmer for about 15–20 minutes or until the vegetables are quite tender.

Remove from the heat and pass the liquid and vegetables through a vegetable mill (or use a blender) to make a purée. Pour into a bowl, stir in the sugar – this counteracts the slightly bitter flavour of the cucumber skin – and season with salt and pepper. Cool, then stir in the cream and chill thoroughly before serving.