What do I do with my zucchinis?

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Are you feeling overwhelmed with those great, green gourds, the size of baseball bats?

You just can’t eat another bite? Well I have an idea for you. The other day, as the zucchini’s were accumulating in my fridge alongside some fresh fennel, I looked up a recipe for zucchini fennel soup. As usual, I strayed from the directions, but the end result was quite delicious. Here’s my recipe:

Chop:
1 large fennel bulb
1 large Vidalia onion (or other kind)
2 lb zucchini

2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1-quart chicken stock
a dash cayenne pepper
1 tsp grated ginger
3 avocados (to be pureed)

I added the cayenne pepper, ginger, and avocados. The latter arose from a mistake! I put all the fennel water into the soup after I’d steamed it. It was so tasty, but it diluted the soup too much and I had to thicken it with something. Cream was too fattening and I didn’t feel like pureed potatoes. So here is what I suggest now:

Steam the chopped fennel until soft. (This time save just ½ the water.)
Pour the oil into a frying pan and sauté the onion and zucchini until limp.
Add the mixture to your soup pot along with the cooked fennel.
Add the fresh lemon juice, grated ginger, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to taste.
Gradually add 1-quart chicken stock along with remaining fennel broth.
Scoop the meat from 3 avocados and add to the soup.
Puree the entire soup (I prefer the hand blender) until it is thick and creamy.

Garnish with crème fresh or sour cream and a sprig of dill.

This soup is delicious hot or cold, and you can even freeze it! Come winter you’ll be glad you took the time to do something with all those zucchinis!

What is your favorite summer recipe?

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9 Responses to What do I do with my zucchinis?

  1. Patty Patterson says:

    Re the fennel bulb……I’m not experienced with this……do you chop it after steaming it?
    Thanks.
    Patty

  2. Sounds delicious! I will try it.

  3. Elaine Naddaff says:

    Hi Eileen, “mmm good…” I will try the recipe. I have never cooked fennel and have never added avocado to soup– sounds great. In zucchini season I bake zucchini bread from “The Philadelphia Orchestra Cookbook”. RECIPE: 2 cups Bisquick (substitute for the Bisquick), 1.5 cups shredded zucchini,
    3/4 cup sugar (use less), 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 3 eggs, 1 tsp. vanilla. 3 tsps. ground cinnamon,
    2 tsps. ground nutmeg, 1/2 cup chopped nuts. Heat oven to 350 Degrees. Beat all ingredients and pour into baking pan (9″x5″x3″) and bake for 50 – 55 minutes. Cool.

  4. Louise Gilbert says:

    Simply YUM!! 🙂

  5. cynthia mackay says:

    Great idea!
    I love a very simple soup: blend peeled cucumbers and ripe avocado and buttermilk, and serve. My friend invented it and she calls it “That Soup”, cuz all her friends ask her: “How did you make that soup?”

  6. ndantonio2 says:

    My mother and I made this soup today and it was delicious. We went to the farmer’s market to get the ingredients and could not resist a few variations to simplify. We sauteed garlic, onion and chopped fennel into pot with olive oil, then added chopped zucchini and stock. We could not find ripe avocados so we steamed some potatoes on the side. We pureed all of it, in small amounts in the old blender, and at the end put two ears of corn cut off the cob into the purée. It tasted very fresh and summery. I would put more Ginger in the future b/c we did not taste the Ginger.

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