I feel it. Do you? The change in the air? Autumn is coming, and with it, cold nights. For me, cold nights mean soup for dinner. I love soup. It's simple, healthy and delicious. I may have jumped the gun a bit (it only just dropped below 70 degrees) but I miss soup, so tonight's dinner was one of my favorites; Curried Zucchini. I got to break out my old friend Mr. Le Creuset Knockoff, and fill our home with savory smells of chilly nights to come.
Because prep time for this dish takes maybe 20 minutes, it makes it a great weeknight go to dinner. The only real work is chopping the onion, garlic and dicing the zucchini. If you have frozen stock (either your own or a really high quality one you've purchased) this is the place to use it. With so few ingredients, using high quality stock will make a huge difference. But should you not have access to that, I have used Trader Joe's reduced sodium organic chicken broth in a pinch and it works just fine. If you want to make this a vegetarian dish, simply sub vegetable stock instead.
 | |
| Mise en place: I used a shallot as well because I happened to have it |
To begin
Add some oil to your pot (I prefer coconut oil because it likes high temps, but olive oil works too.) Turn heat to med-hi.
As oil is heating, chop your onion. Add to pot and stir to coat.
As onions are cooking, chop one clove garlic (and a small shallot if you prefer). Once onions have softened, reduce heat to med (you don't want to burn the garlic, yucky) and add garlic, stir.
Now dice your squash. I quarter mine then slice in 1 inch pieces.
Add to pot and increase heat back to Med-Hi. Add salt, pretty liberally, zucchini is a high water content veg and you really want to draw that liquid out. I apologize for not measuring, I just eyeball it. Better to go light, you can always adjust your seasonings later if need be.
Stir.
Saute the zucchini for about 5 minutes to soften it, once it starts to loosen up, add in about 1 1/2 TBS curry powder, and again...stir.
This is when your house begins to smell divine. For that reason alone, I love making this soup. After the veg are all nice and coated in curry, pour in your stock, enough to cover just the top of the zucchini. 32 ounces should do it.
Here is where I encourage you to break away from the recipe. Dave likes things spicy, so I add in a few shakes of chili flakes and some cracked black pepper. Feel free to try your own version.
Now crank that baby up to high, slap a lid on that pot, BTB (bring to boil), RTS (reduce to simmer) and relax for about 25 minutes.
Once the zucchini get to the point of such softness that they look ready to fall apart, and you look into your pot and think "Man that's one ugly soup", it's time to puree.
There are 2 ways to do this, the easy way and the hard way. The easy way is with this
This is an immersion blender, one of my most favorite kitchen gadgets.
The hard way really isn't that hard, just use a regular blender, Carefully. Hot liquid and blending can be dangerous. Do it in batches and keep the lid on tight.
Once you have pureed your soup, taste it.
Does it need more salt? More pepper? More heat? You could add some cream for richness, butter for a satiny finish. Keep it healthy and try Greek yogurt. The options are only as limited as your imagination. I like to finish mine with a little smoked paprika for color.
Finally it is time to enjoy.
Curried Zucchini Soup (basic recipe Ingredients)
2 tablespoons coconut or olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoon curry powder
sea salt to taste
4 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1 inch slices
32 ounces chicken stock
No comments:
Post a Comment