This has become my favorite way to enjoy the zucchini harvest we look forward to all year. It is a rich and savory soup base that can be frozen and thawed to bring back a taste of sunshine anytime of year. We serve it with a variety of toppings—roasted rosemary pine nuts, chopped tomatoes and basil, shaved Parmesan, grated mozzarella, and chopped ham or bacon for the meat eaters. We love serving this soup with fresh, hot, toasty garlic bread.
SAVORY ZUCCHINI SOUP RECIPE
For the base:
10 cups chopped zucchini
1 cup water or broth
1 medium yellow onion
1 medium shallot
5 medium-large cloves garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4-1/2 cup butter
1 rounded tsp dried thyme
Favorite bouillon, such as Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base
Fresh ground black pepper
To add when cooking or thawed:
2 cups shredded carrots
3 cups finely chopped kale, stems removed
Optional Toppings:
Shaved Parmesan
Grated mozzarella
Chopped fresh tomatoes
Chopped fresh basil
Toasted pine nuts with fresh chopped rosemary
Bacon or chopped roasted ham
Chop onion, garlic, and shallots and add to soup pot with olive oil and butter. Sauté till soft. Wash and coarsely chop zucchini, removing large seeds and any hard peel or marred areas, and add to pot. Add 1 cup broth or water, thyme, and freshly ground black pepper. Cover and simmer at medium heat, stirring frequently, adding broth or water as necessary. Zucchini has a high-water content already and the soup will quickly become too thin if you add too much broth, so just drizzle in a bit of liquid at a time.
When zucchini is cooked enough to squish easily with a spoon, use an immersion blender or standard blender to blend until just barely smooth, leaving 1/4 of the soup still chunky.
Season with bouillon to taste by diluting the bouillon in small concentrated portions and stirring into the soup small portions at a time until you’ve reached desired flavor.
Set aside portions of base to freeze. Add carrots and kale and cook until just tender.
Serve immediately topped with your favorite toppings. Our family’s favorites: Shaved Parmesan, grated mozzarella, pine nuts roasted with finely chopped rosemary, and chopped tomatoes and basil. Optional for meat eaters: Bacon or chopped roasted ham.
