Harvest Cream of Green soup
You know you have a winning recipe when someone who dislikes soup and hates zucchini loves this soup! As we have a few dull days here in Melbourne –perfect soup weather, I thought I would share this recipe with you. Since those of you who are growing zucchinis are probably wondering what to do with your (invariably) excess harvest, this recipe is perfect as you can just pack in all those zucchinis, even the ones that have got away slightly and are more tennis ball size rather than the perfect golf ball diameter.
It’s called Cream of Green for a reason and that is to use up lots of lovely greens from the garden that may be slightly over their best time and have become bitter but are still lush and lovely although they may be bolting to seed like my lettuce. I use this soup to get a super food/weed boost too and add in a few of my favourite organic super weeds such as dandelions and nettles, all carefully cultivated in my veggie beds. These plants almost always have a quite bitter taste so only add enough to make you feel virtuous, but not too many – less than a handful, so you enjoy the lovely colour but the bitterness is not too strong on the palate as an after taste. Always only ever use greens and weeds that are organic and grown fit for eating (so not picked from roadsides).
This soup is excellent for freezing up summer goodness to enjoy through autumn and winter so you can make an extra large pot, freeze some and perhaps serve up a delivery of homemade goodness to a friend with some crusty bread for a cosy supper. You do need a vitamiser as this is what makes the texture and flavour of the soup.
Harvest Cream of Green Soup
1 to 3 potatoes (the more potatoes the more creamy the soup will be, don’t peel as all the nutrients are just under the skin)
Zucchini unlimited I use about 5-10 zucchinis to make about 8 bowlfuls, again don’t peel.
1 onion
Handful of greens if you have them. I use dandelion, lettuce, nettle, nasturtium, cleavers, Fat hen/wild spinach (in season in summer) young mallow leaves.
Ground Nutmeg for serving
Roughly chop everything and in a big pot on a low heat sauté everything in a dash of olive oil for as long as you can – up to 15-20 minutes is ideal, until the onion is translucent and taking care you don’t brown the vegetables. This will give your soup a lovely gentle flavour. Then add a good dash of white pepper and a pinch of salt, stir in and add enough water to cover plus 1-2 cups of additional water (the amount of water can be to your preference, less if you want a thicker soup). Bring to the boil and then vitamise really well so there are only tiny specks of green. Return the soup to the cooking pot and gently warm – don’t boil again as it will split until ready to eat. Serve with a sprinkle of nutmeg-(compulsory as this brings all the flavours together!) and a tiny dash of milk or cream if you want to be decadent and a pinch of salt to taste. Enjoy!
This year I grew Zucchini Gold Rush F1, Zucchini Lebanese and Zucchini One Ball F1. The Lebanese did really well and will probably keep producing for and other month or two, but the other two have hardly grown – the vines are less than 30cm long and tiny fruit that fall before they are ready. Perhaps they need more heat?
The Garden Times 