Creamy Summer Squash Soup

With all the sunshine, heat and just enough rain, it's been an overall great summer to garden.  So very unlike last year, when the rain pretty much obliterated the tomatoes and caused a lot of fungal and mildew problems on other vegetables.  So, with a great summer comes great excess..., of produce that is, more specifically, squash and zucchini.  How do we overcome the glut of squash here?  That's where this recipe comes it...it has been a produce saver and another great use for these notorious plant over-producers!  Of course I've given away countless squash and zucchini, but people will only take so much.  So, when I happened by chance to be watching a cooking show on PBS one Saturday, I found this recipe!

Summer squash, banana peppers, 3 types of basil - Red Rubin, Italian and Lemon

Not only does this recipe use summer squash, but it also calls for yellow peppers and my banana peppers totally fill the bill.  So, gathering an assortment of the vegetables and herbs together, I am ready to make some really great soup!

I like this recipe too because I am really into lemon this year and included in this love is my lemon basil.  I have grown it for years but have really neglected using it for some reason.  This year, it has become very popular in my kitchen and I have a stash of it already dried and ready for winter.  When it's fresh, it's VERY strong, but drying it calms the flavors quite a bit.  I use it both ways, preferably fresh while I have it growing.

The recipe is pretty simple and you can see what's going on here.  You want to cut up your onion and peppers to a nice size and then saute them off in a little butter or oil of your choice. It helps to do this step because it adds flavor to the soup for sure.

Assemble your other ingredients now.  I used double the amount of potatoes for this recipe because it helps to make the soup creamy.  

Chunk up your vegetables and don't worry about the size because they'll all be blended in the end.  I leave the carrots in those long pieces and cook them along with everything else, but take them out before blending.  I hand slice them and put them back into the blended soup for a bit of texture.  The original recipe doesn't do this, but I like the soup better this way.

It's pretty simple after that.  Add a quart of chicken stock, homemade  or purchased, and simmer the vegetables in the stock in a covered container until everything is soft and cooked through.  Let the soup cool and then add to a blender making sure not to fill it over halfway full.  Blend and then add remainder of the soup to blend and finish off.  Use a hand immersion blender if you have one, they work well too.

When all done, I add fresh basil to the soup that I have cut into short ribbons.  I happen to like lemon basil in mine, but feel free to use regular basil if you like.  Or another herb you may like better.  This recipe uses a lot of summer squash and I like it especially for the ones that are the size of a small baseball bat. They aren't good for much else, but this way they won't go to waste. 

I'm on my 5th batch of soup so far and plan to put away some more for winter.  The soup has become a bit addicting and I realize I'm going to want more of it during the cold months ahead.

There you have it.  Creamy without a bit of cream in it.  This soup is low-fat, full of fiber and really good as well.  Hope you'll give it a try!  Click here for the original recipe.   I keep changing my recipe every time I make it by adding different seasonings, like garlic and lime juice.  Have fun with this one!

What's your favorite basil this year?  Blessings! 



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