A better zucchini soup

Friday, September 26, 2008

Over the weekend a teammate was telling me that she’s still really inundated with zucchini, and that she’s canned and frozen more zucchini this Summer than she can ever remember.  However, she couldn’t make a decent canned zucchini soup because of the dairy she was adding.

I happen to have a solution.  My favorite zucchini soup has no dairy, freezes and cans perfectly, and also uses up any extra basil you might have laying around.

2 lbs zucchini, trimmed and roughly chopped
3/4 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cups water
1/3 cup packed basil leaves

Julienne skin from one zucchini; toss with salt and drain in sieve for 20 minutes.

Cook onion and garlic in oil over medium low heat for 5 minutes.  Add chopped zucchini, 1 tsp salt and cook 5 minutes.  Add 3 c. water and simmer, partially covered, about 15 minutes.  Puree soup with basil.

Bring 1 c water to boil; blanch zucchini julienne for 1 minutes. Drain.

Serve soup with julienne.

I like my soup a little chunkier than puree, but if you puree enough the soup can get very smooth and silky.  No cream needed!