Cook Local – Zucchini Parmesan Soup
Are you a soup person? Does it have to be cold outside for you to enjoy soup, or do you eat soup during the warm summer months? Here in the valley there are not many cold winters so we eat soup year round. Soup is good food!
For this meal I’m going to send you out to your garden or the farmers market. This is the perfect soup to use up that excess zucchini. It’s creamy and luxurious but without the cream. It’s a vegetarian meal too and you can enjoy it guilt free.
The hardest part about this soup is cleaning the leeks. If you haven’t used leeks before, they come with a dark green top, that you remove & then the best thing to do is to slice the leek in half and then rinse well. Leeks grow in the earth and will collect dirt and grime in-between the layers. No worries! Just rinse them thoroughly.
The other veggies you’ll need is zucchini, yukon gold potatoes and mushrooms. Are you ready to do some cooking? Well let’s get busy and make this delicious soup!
- 2 cups leeks, sliced in half, cleaned & chopped
- 4 cups zucchini, chopped
- 3 cups Yukon Gold potatoes, chopped
- 1 16 oz. container button mushrooms, stems removed & quartered
- 3-4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Start by chopping & cleaning the vegetables. Remove the dark green leaves from the top of the leeks and set aside, slice each leek in half and run them under cold water. Often times dirt & grime hides between the layers, just make sure to rinse them well to remove it. Slice the zucchini in half and then into one inch pieces. Peel the potatoes and chop into one inch pieces also. Clean the mushrooms with a damp cloth to remove any dirt that may be on the mushrooms. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and quarter them.
- In a large stock pot over medium heat, add the butter & olive oil. Add in all of the vegetables and season with salt, pepper & red pepper flakes. Sauté the veggies, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes or until they just begin to soften.
- Add in about 3 cups of vegetable stock – just enough to cover the vegetables. Increase the heat to medium high and bring to a boil.
- Continue to boil until the potatoes are fork tender, turn off the heat and either using a blender in batches, or a submersion blender, puree the soup until it is silky and smooth. You may need to add additional stock, just depends on how thick you like your soup. Add in the parmesan cheese and stir until it is melted. Taste to adjust the seasoning. Because the parmesan is quite salty, you may need to add some pepper, but probably not salt. That’s it! Rich and decadent soup that is done in just over 30 minutes
Follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram!
- Learn All About Kingsburg Honey & Why Bees Rock - January 14, 2017
- How to Make Lemon Drop Martinis with Locally Made Corbin Vodka - January 5, 2017
- Eat Local – The Schoolhouse Restaurant - December 29, 2016
Leave a Reply