Courgette soup: twelve minutes of cooking and not a minute more
Courgette cooks in a matter of minutes, and that is the whole difficulty of this soup: overcooked it loses its bright green, turns greyish and starts to taste of nothing. The second problem is water — a courgette is about 95% water, so add stock as you would to an ordinary soup and you get green water. The solution: far less stock than instinct suggests, and one potato to provide creaminess without much cream.
Your own work in that: 34 min.
- Frying 12 min
- Simmering 12 min
- Blending 10 min
Step by step
0 / 5 doneFry the onion and courgette
Cut the courgettes into thick half-moons, skin on — the skin holds almost all the green pigment. Fry the chopped onion in 2 tablespoons of the oil for 5 minutes, add the courgette and garlic and fry another 6 minutes over fairly high heat, until the courgette begins to colour at the edges.
Ingredients: 900 g courgettes · 1 pcs potato · 1 pcs onion · 3 cloves garlic · 3 tbsp olive oil · 600 ml vegetable stock · 1 tsp salt · ½ tsp white pepper
TipFrying drives some of the water out of the courgette <b>before</b> it meets the stock. Without this step the soup is watery however little liquid you add.
Skin on, until it starts to colourAdd the potato and very little stock
Add the finely diced potato, pour in only 600 ml of hot stock — just enough to cover the vegetables — and bring to the boil. That is considerably less than instinct suggests, but the courgette will release plenty of its own water.
Simmer twelve minutes
Simmer uncovered, exactly 12 minutes, until the potato is tender. The courgette is done after eight, but the potato needs longer — and it sets the timing. Take it off the heat at once.
TipUncovered, because some of the volatile plant acids evaporate. Under a lid they condense and drip back into the soup, and vivid green turns army olive much faster.
Twelve minutes, uncoveredBlend with the basil
Add the basil leaves (keep a few for garnish) and blend 2 minutes until smooth. Basil blended into the hot soup flavours all of it; laid on top it is mostly a garnish.
Ingredients: 20 pcs fresh basil · 100 ml whipping cream (30%) · 50 g parmesan · ½ pcs lemon, juice
Basil into the blender, not just on topFinish with cream and lemon
Stir in the cream and warm through without boiling. Season with salt, white pepper and, just before serving, the juice of half a lemon. The acid is not obvious here, but without it courgette soup tastes dull — it is what lifts its mild flavour. Serve with parmesan, the reserved basil leaves and a drizzle of the remaining oil.
Ingredients: 20 pcs fresh basil · 100 ml whipping cream (30%) · 50 g parmesan · ½ pcs lemon, juice
Lemon lifts the mildness of courgette
Before you start
The giant allotment courgette
Overgrown courgettes have watery, spongy seeds inside. Halve them lengthwise and scoop those out, keeping only the firm flesh — otherwise the soup comes out watery despite the small amount of stock.
Served cold
The same soup chilled 3 hours, with an extra spoon of yoghurt and lemon zest, is excellent in a heatwave. Serve it then without parmesan but with chopped mint.
More filling
Add a handful of cooked rice or white beans to the blended soup and blend again. It gains body and becomes a full meal without changing character.
How long it keeps
Three days in the fridge, though the colour fades by the second day. It freezes well without the cream — add that when reheating.
