13 July 2010

Zucchini--yellow (green) bean--dill soup

OK, so another recipe. The original was given to me by a buddy, but I have changed it around quite a bit to make it my own. I suggest you do the same!

This is a great summer soup--light, yet filling. It would be great with some crusty bread and olive oil, or with an herb salad.

You need:

1T grapeseed oil*
5 medium zucchini (yellow or green) sliced in half, then into thin half-moons**
1 small onion--roughly chopped
5 (or so) fresh garlic cloves--finely chopped
1/2 C fresh dill--finely chopped
1/2 C fresh cilantro--finely chopped
1C yellow or green beans**--cut into ~1cm pieces
4C veggie stock (yours or a good quality)
3-4C water (depending on how thick you want this soup)
salt and pepper to taste

You do:

1. heat the oil in a nice-sized soup pot.
2. saute all of the veggies, with the dill and cilantro, in the oil.
3. once everything is nice and soft (at least 15 minutes), pour in your stock and water (if using). allow to simmer about 10 minutes to marry the flavors.
4. add salt and pepper to taste.
5. allow to cool a bit and puree in batches in a table top blender... alternatively, you can use a hand-held submersible blender--just be aware that if this splatters and is still hot, you WILL burn yourself. I like to puree just a bit and still leave some chunky veggies.


* you can also use the same measure of olive oil or butter
** if you want a pretty soup, stay with one color--ie: if you use yellow zucchini, then use the yellow beans, if you use green zucchini, use green beans. You could also just leave the beans out.

Enjoy!!

1 comment:

Sarada Kakinada said...

Hey there, Dr. B!

I don't have the exact recipe in front of me, but my mom recently started making a spicy hot summer soup that we all love. Basically, she starts with a buttery base like butternut squash (and adds a little milk). We usually have things like bell peppers, tomatoes, cilantro and garlic around, so she throws those in too. This is sort of a hodgepodge soup, so you just blend whatever you can. You can add diced steamed potato for texture if you want. She's a vegetarian, so she also uses a cube of vegetable stock. Finally, she adds in a bit of chili powder to give it a kick - it's fantastic with toast and a salad!