Italian-style courgette soup
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 10 to 30 mins
- Serve
- Serves 4
This is the best courgette soup recipe when you've got an abundance in the middle of summer. It's mostly rich and creamy, with a few chunky bits left in to keep things interesting.
By Neil Perry
From Saturday Kitchen
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
- handful basil leaves, chopped
- 1kg/2¼lb courgettes, cut lengthways into quarters then into 1cm/½in slices
- 750ml/1¼ pint chicken stock or vegetable stock
- 60ml/2fl oz single cream, plus extra for garnish
- handful flatleaf parsley, chopped
- 50g/2oz freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra to serve
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- crusty bread, to serve
Method
Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan over a medium heat.
Add the garlic, basil, salt and courgettes and cook slowly for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the courgettes are lightly browned and softened.
Season with pepper, then pour in the stock and simmer for 8 minutes, uncovered. Remove from the heat.
Put three-quarters of the soup mixture into a heat-proof food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
Return the mixture to the pan and stir in the cream, parsley and Parmesan. Add the remaining unblended courgettes back into the soup. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.
To serve, ladle the soup into a bowl and sprinkle over more Parmesan. Garnish with a drizzle of extra cream. Serve with crusty bread.
Recipe tips
You can use any colour, shape or size of courgette for this soup, but scrape out and discard any large seeds or woolly middles if your courgettes are a bit older and larger.
Be careful if you are blending the hot soup in a blender. Check the lid is on securely and hold on to it. Steam pressure can pop the top off.
Feel free to swap the basil for other herbs – mint, tarragon, lovage or chives would be good.
You can also serve this soup cold. Once cooked, cool completely and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve with another drizzle of cream for garnish.
