Last Updated on 3 years by Tim
When I grew up, we always ate a lot of zucchini during the summertime. The reason for that was that the zucchini in our garden grew crazy fast. I guess every gardener who grows his own zucchini can relate to that.
If you’ve forgotten to harvest your small zucchini the day before, they might’ve grown to monster size overnight.
The easiest and most delicious way to use up all the zucchini at our home was to cook a delicious soup with it. We ate zucchini soup as an appetizer at least once every week during summer. Up until today, I haven’t grown tired of it.
The creaminess and richness from the heavy cream, the unbeatable combination of garlic and zucchini that reminds of Italy, and that final sprinkling of cider vinegar, which brightens the flavor and brings this dish together.
The basic formula for making pureed soups
Cooking a pureed soup is very simple. You can make all kinds of creamy soups from one base recipe, altering the vegetables and spices to your preference.
You always start by sweating some onions and garlic in butter or olive oil. Then, you add your main vegetable, eg. zucchini, carrot, parsnip. Sweat the vegetable for 2-3 minutes, then add broth or water to cover. Cook the vegetable until tender, then puree and strain your soup.
In the end, the soup gets enriched with heavy or coconut cream. The basic seasoning is a touch of vinegar, sugar, pepper, and salt.
The best way to serve a pureed soup is either as an appetizer of a multi-course meal or by itself as a light dinner.
If serving the soup by itself, make sure to serve it together with a few slices of sourdough bread. Dipping the bread in the soup and letting it soak up all those fresh flavors is an awesome experience.
If you want to make your soup look a little fancy, which I don’t mind for, you could garnish it with some olive oil, fresh chervil, or a dollop of crème fraîche
Ways to achieve a super-creamy and smooth zucchini soup
As with all pureed soups, zucchini soup is all about the texture. The flavor from the zucchini, onion, garlic, and broth is outstanding by itself, no question.
However, the silky smooth mouthfeel is what a lot of people crave most in their soups and purees. To get your soup super smooth, there are three things to remember which apply to all creamy soups.
1. Cook your zucchini long enough so that it is really tender. It shouldn’t be completely overcooked but it needs to be soft enough so that your blender has no problem pureeing it. A lot of people don’t have a high-quality Vitamix at home so make sure your cheap blender can handle the task.
2. Puree your soup for at least 1 minute. Start slowly and keep going. It will get smoother over time. Don’t stop once it looks smooth, instead keep going for another 30 seconds or so.
3. Pass your soup through a fine-mesh sieve. This is the most important step. Even if you messed up the first two steps, passing your soup through a sieve will still guarantee you a silky and smooth texture. All the bigger junks left in the soup will either get strained out or mashed through the sieve. Make sure to pass as much of the soup as possible through your sieve using a spoon. You don’t want to strain out all the solids. You want to mash them through the sieve to puree them. This step might need a lot of patience, depending on the thickness of your soup.
Once your soup is strained, you can adjust and thin the consistency by adding in heavy cream or water depending on your preference. If your soup ends up too thin, the best option is to reduce it by letting more water evaporate over medium heat.
Another quick fix would be to add a cornstarch slurry, however, this takes away a lot of the taste so I wouldn’t recommend it.
I like my soups on the thinner side. So if you decide to follow my recipe, the finished soup will be very easy to strain. If done right, it will have the consistency of heavy cream. If you enjoy thicker, puree-like soups, only add two cups of broth instead of three.
Zucchini Soup (‘Zucchinisuppe’)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 small red onions, thinly sliced, about 1/2 cup
- 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 2 medium-sized zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- black pepper, to taste
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- In a pot, heat the butter over medium heat, add the onions and garlic and sweat for 2-3 minutes until the onions turn translucent. Add the zucchini and sweat for another 2-3 minutes. Add the chicken or vegetable broth, cover your pot, bring the soup to a boil, and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes until the zucchini is very tender. Stir in the heavy cream, vinegar, and sugar and let the soup come to a boil.
- Puree the soup in a blender, then pass it through a fine-mesh sieve. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.
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