Last week when I was struggling in the kitchen to make tasty food without killing myself, Leel suggested and inspired me to try the Food Network's Pear and Zucchini Soup. Ah soup, how I love thee. My husband is allergic to pears but he is away so this was another way to be rebellious in the kitchen.
You know I just had to change up the recipe a bit, right? I divided the recipe in half which is a good thing, even at half this makes a ton of soup! I have been living off it all weekend. You start off with the classic soup-making technique. I heated up some olive oil and butter and then added 1 diced carrot, celery stalk and small onion and sauteed them for 10 minutes.
I added 3 diced zucchini and 1 diced pear and a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme. The recipe calls for sage but I am not a huge fan so I used thyme instead and added a bay leaf. I cooked another ten minutes stirring occasionally. I added 2 cups of chicken stock and 1 cup of cider instead of 3 cups of water. Had to use up some of that cider! Plus, it added a lot of flavour. Also, every time I added ingredients I lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, I like layering the flavour that way instead of adding 1/2 tsp at the end. With the cider I also added 2 small peeled and diced potatoes. I brought everything to a boil, then turned down the heat so it was lightly simmering and then put on the lid. I let it simmer for 30 minutes.
While the soup was simmering away I fried up little pieces of chorizo sausage to use as garnish instead of the croutons. I wanted a little protein in the meal.
I love this picture, my blender looks like it is impersonating a ghost! I do not like using immersion blenders, they do not make the soup perfectly smooth the way a blender does. I removed thyme stalks and bay leaf and a little at a time I ladled the soup into the blender and pureed it with a cloth on top. This is important! I have ended up with soup all over my kitchen because I forgot to do this, make sure to cover and not over-fill the blender. Add soup gradually. I put the soup back into the pot, added 2 tbsp of cream and checked the seasoning.
Velvety, deep in flavour and absolutely delicious. A beautiful way to warm up on a cold winter's day. This recipe is worth the chopping and simmering time. Elegant and lovely, made the way I described, I give this recipe five out of five wooden spoons.
6 comments:
yay! five out of five wooden spoons! woohoo! ok, i know its not even MY recipe per say, but i love that i suggested it and you enjoyed it. you never know with other peoples taste buds! thanks suzie; im so glad i could some part of getting you out of your foodie frustrations :)
thanks girl!
That looks delish! Great blog you have here. :)
Oh now that sounds wonderful..what a good combination..think I will try this one!! Yummmmmm! Sarah
That is one PRETTY soup. And I liked the story too. I keep marveling that I read your food blog, Suzie, since I don't do recipes. It is always fun to read about your adventures in the kitchen. xo, O
Sounds good, I think I'll wait till the zuchinni are a bit cheaper, they are all imported here at this time of year.
great tastes, zucchini and pear, must be dealicious. best of luck with cooking :)
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