GAD-zukes!

Thursday, July 26, 2007

It is that time of year.. where you are up to your eyeballs in zucchini. Today I was just too full of summer squash to know what to do with myself. So I pulled myself together and found this recipe online. I’ve tinkered a bit, but here is a summer squash soup recipe to enjoy. (based on the June 2002 Oprah Mag recipe.)

Summer Squash Soup
ingredients:
-2 tbl olive oil
-2 onions chopped (local!)
-2 celery stalks chopped
-6 garlic cloves (local!)
-summer squash, about 3 lbs chopped. (I used patty pan, yellow and zukes, local!)
-4 sprigs of thyme
-2 strips of lemon peel
-5 cups of vegetable stock (you could substitute chicken stock)
-1/2 tsp salt
-3 tbl fresh lemon juice
-hot pepper sauce
-parmesan chese for garnish.

In a large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, celery and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes or until onions are soft. Add squash, thyme, and lemon peel. Cook for 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium high and add stock and salt. Simmer until squash is soft. Discard thyme.

Puree the soup in batches and return to the soup pot. Heat through. Add lemon juice and hot pepper to taste.

Garnish it shaved parmesan.

***Last tidbit. I roasted my squash to give it extra flavor. This made the whole cooking time go much faster for an already speedy dinner course.