Over the summer one of my neighbors had an an abundant crop of vegetables from her garden. She gave me a decent amount of summer squash and I decided to make a soup with it. I chose to make a puree soup as opposed to a chopped vegetable one, and with it decided to use my garden herbs to brighten up the flavor. Additionally I added a fair amount of goat cheese to cream out the soup and give it a tang. The other two steps that I took to give this soup a richer flavor was to use roasted garlic and preserved lemon.
This is a very flavorful simple soup that can be made vegetarian by using vegetable stock and base. If you decided to omit the chevre you could easily make this into a vegan version, though you want to add some potato or rice to help thicken and give it texture prior to pureeing it.
To finish this soup I made a quick relish with grape tomatoes, herbs, and some of the squash and onions that I reserved from the initial step in making the soup.
Enjoy.
Ingredients
Roasted Garlic 2 heads
Zucchini, chopped 4 lbs
Preserved Lemon, rinsed & diced 1 T
Chicken Stock* 2 qts
Onion, diced 3 ea
Thyme, minced 1/4 oz
Oregano, minced 1/4 oz
Basil, chiffonaded 1/4 oz
Mint, minced 1/4 oz
Shiso leaves, chiffonaded 1/4 oz
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Vegetable Base 2 T
Water 2 qts
Extra Virgin Olive Oil 3 T
Crushed Red Pepper 1 T
Chevre 16 oz
Avenue Spice 1 T
*Feel free to swap to vegetable stock to make this vegetarian. When I made this, I only had chicken stock.
Garnish
Squash & Tomato relish (diced squash and onion relish with grape tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, Avenue spice, and herbs), extra virgin olive oil
Method of Procedure
Start by roasting your garlic and getting your ingredients together.
Preheat your oven to 475 degrees.
Next wash and chop up your squash, if you don't have a giant 4 lb squash from your neighbors, feel free to substitute zucchini or yellow squash.
Combine the squash with your chopped onion, thyme, Avenue Spice and oregano. Remove 2 cups of onion and squash and reserve for later.
Place the remaining squash on a lined sheet tray and roast for 15 minutes to get some light caramelization on the vegetables.
Remove from the oven and put into your soup pot with your vegetable base, roasted garlic, preserved lemon, and crushed red pepper. Cook, while stirring, to coat the vegetables with the base.
Add your stock, water, and the remainder of your fresh herbs and bring to a simmer for 30 minutes.
Using a blender, puree the vegetables with broth in the blender and add about 4 oz of cheese each time. Rotate through the entire soup and cheese, then season to taste.
Serve with the squash and tomato relish and extra virgin olive oil.
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