We don’t often think of soup for the summer unless they are chilled, but here is one that works very well during the summer months. This year with the cooler temperatures outside it is something you should all consider. Very tasty and has an elegance to it…. in spite of it coming from the humble zucchini.
Both zucchini and yellow summer squash work well for this recipe.
Zucchini-Lemon Soup
2 ½ pounds of zucchini
Olive oil
Zest of one lemon
1 shallot sliced thinly
2 cloves minced garlic
A bit of white wine
Coarse salt
1 cup of milk
2 tablespoons of heavy cream
Chopped Fresh Thyme
Trim off both ends of the zucchini. Peel (and seed if old or very large) the zucchini. Save the skin ribbons. Cut zucchini into 1 inch cubes.
In a large sauté pan warm the olive oil with half the lemon zest. Add all the zucchini, garlic, shallots, and white wine. Season with salt. Cover and sweat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 25-30 minutes, or until the zucchini is soft all the way through and there are just a few tablespoons of liquid remaining in the pan.
Puree in a food processor fitted with a steel blade or with an immersion blender. Pass through sieve if you would like a really smooth soup. Return to sauce pan, and the milk and cream and thyme. If you need to thin out a bit add a little water. The consistency should be light and creamy.
Heat through, adjust seasoning.
Julienne zucchini skin ribbons and fry in a bit of olive oil until crispy. Sprinkle in center of bowl of soup.
Enjoy
2 responses so far ↓
Anne // Thursday at 6:36 pm |
The soup is delicious! You may want to add garlic under Ingredients, I kept re-reading the recipe when the instructions said to “add the garlic” but none was in the ingredients list!
I was looking forward to the crunchy zucchini ribbons…it didn’t work out for me. I have julienned the peel, then put, as you said “a bit of olive oil” in my pan, but no matter how long I stir them, and how high the heat, zuch just got limp and skinnier, but definitely not crisp! Did you deep-fry it? I never deep-fried with olive oil and it would need more then “a bit”!
What is the trick? I would love to pile a bunch of crunchy strings of zucchini on top of the soup, it would look sensational!
Thanks!
Anne
jeeoc // Thursday at 11:25 am |
Sorry for not replying sooner. I did try this again and I originally sliced the zucchini on a mandolin at the thinnest setting and then hand julienned the resulting slices so they were very tiny. I then fried them is some oil in a pan. There was a lot of space in the pan so they were not crowded. They did brown and crisp after they gave off their juices. After your feedback I re looked at everything and julienned- long strips do work better with more canola (instead of olive) oil and a deep fry. Another way it does work is to toss in olive oil for a very light coating and then salt and pepper- before placing on a cookie tray in the oven at 450 degrees until brown and crisp. Thanks