Summer Zucchini Soup Method

Soupe de Courgette avec crème fraîche et croutons

Soupe de Courgette

avec Crème Fraîche et Croûtons

Summer zucchini soup with crème fraîche and croutons

In the late summer when zucchini seems to grow a couple of inches a day, you need to use them up. There are so many great ways to cook zucchini ! One is making a cold soup which is a perfect way to enter into a dinner on a hot summer evening.

I made this as part of my “Duck Dinner Feast in Provence” Provence.

*note - as always, my “recipe’s” are a guide for flavors and ingredients.

Soup ingredients

• leeks cut into rounds

• smashed garlic

• oil

• zucchini cut into slices (or cubes if large)

• seasoning: salt

• herbs: chives and tarragon

• half & half

• vegetable broth

• splash of vinegar

Garnish

• crème fraîche with chives

• herbed home made croutons (tarragon, chervil and garlic)

• basil-tarragon oil

• fresh basil

Method

• On medium heat, add oil, then the leeks with some seasoning. Add a couple of smashed garlic cloves. Cook until leeks are translucent. Add zucchini (with some seasoning) and herbs. After about 5 minutes add half & half along and vegetable broth. Simmer until very soft. Purée in a blender until smooth. Put back in warm pan and taste for seasoning or herbs. Lastly, add a splash of sherry vinegar (could be white wine vinegar). Then cool in the refrigerator until an hour before serving.

• You can serve warm or room temperature. You can make in advance and put in the refrigerator to cool. Just take it out about an hour before serving so the cool soup pours nicely into the bowls.

*note - If you want the soup to be more green, add some “spinach dye” (basically heat spinach with a tiny bit of water until cooked and wilted. Purée it and squeeze through a sieve to create a “green dye”).