{"id":866,"date":"2014-06-17T12:15:23","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T17:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pcandres.com\/?p=519"},"modified":"2015-11-06T15:15:23","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T21:15:23","slug":"summertime-and-the-cooking-is-easy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/?p=866","title":{"rendered":"Summertime, and the Cooking Is Easy: Zucchini Soup"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none\"><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fthesoupblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D866&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=true&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;width=450&amp;height=30\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width: 450px; height: 30px;\"><\/iframe><\/div><div id=\"attachment_520\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ZucchiniRing.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-520\" class=\"wp-image-520\" title=\"ZucchiniRing\" src=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ZucchiniRing-300x202.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ZucchiniRing-300x202.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ZucchiniRing-1024x690.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-520\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gadzucchs!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In keeping with my goal of using vegetables that are in season and, the season being summer, keeping kitchen time to a minimum, I bring you the summer squash.\u00a0 One squash in particular, actually: Zucchini.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been a fan of zucchini ever since I was a kid.\u00a0 No surprise there. It\u2019s what you might call a starter vegetable\u2014easily accessible flavor, slightly crunchy texture, full of moisture.\u00a0 And cooking it is simplicity itself.<\/p>\n<p>Kids love \u2018em.\u00a0 Moms too.<\/p>\n<p>I remember this one side dish my own mother used to make that was essentially a casserole of zucchini layered with tomato sauce and mozzarella. Now I recognize it as a streamlined lasagna with a little bit of crunch, then, I just ate it, quickly.\u00a0 (There\u2019s nothing like cheese to sweeten the deal for a kid.)<\/p>\n<p>For children, summer squash can be the next step up from potatoes and pasta, the two foods that make up the bulk of all teen and pre-teen calories.\u00a0 You may not wean the kids off the mac and cheese and fries right away, but zucchini is a great place to start because it easily substitutes into a lot of high starch classics. Zucchini lasagna? Fried zucchini sticks?<\/p>\n<p>The next great thing about zucchini, something I came to appreciate only after I grew up, is how simple they are.\u00a0 Not only a breeze to cook, they\u2019re fast , no matter what cooking method you use. This goes for all summer squash, actually:\u00a0 crooknecks, patty pans, etc.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re great off the grill, out of the saut\u00e9 pan, breaded and baked (or fried), roasted in the oven, etc, etc, etc. They start off so tender they\u2019re even good raw, but cooking really brings out their flavor.<\/p>\n<p>(<em>No, I\u2019m not being paid by the zucchini advisory board, but if you know someone\u2026\u00a0 Right,well, on with the soup.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p>Extra flavor is why I started this soup out in a roasting pan (okay, two cookie sheets and a lasagna dish). I lay the squash slices out on the baking sheets in one layer to keep them from steaming, then I sprayed the squash with oil, shook a bit of seasoning on them and roasted them in the oven for 20 minutes.\u00a0 It gave them a better taste and couldn\u2019t have been less labor intensive.<\/p>\n<p>The next step was simmering them in stock for 20-30 more minutes, pureeing the soup (a standing or immersion blender again, my favorite), adjusting the seasoning and that was it. Well, almost. For an extra layer of adult interest, I garnished the soup with a healthy pat of goat cheese in the middle of each bowl. The cheese melted into the soup leaving pockets of tangy cream in every bite (as long as you didn\u2019t get greedy).<\/p>\n<p>That wasn\u2019t too hard. Easy-peasy, as the kids say.<\/p>\n<p>So easy, it might be time to bring the kids into the kitchen and start doing some of this themselves.\u00a0 It may not have the sweet allure of baking cookies or even zucchini bread, but it\u2019s a good place to launch into savory cooking. I\u2019m definitely going to try it with my kids.<\/p>\n<p>Wait a minute. It\u2019s summer.\u00a0 Who wants to heat up the kitchen with father-daughter cooking lessons in the middle of June, or worse July?<\/p>\n<p>If I put it off \u2018til they\u2019re teenagers, the kids\u2019ll be like zucchini themselves\u2014a lot easier to handle and just in need a few finishing touches.<\/p>\n<p>(sigh)<\/p>\n<p>Better start now.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zucchini Soup<br \/>\n<\/strong>(serves 3-4)<br \/>\n4 lbs. zucchini, cut lengthwise into slices ~1\/4 inch thick<br \/>\nvegetable oil (liquid or spray)<br \/>\nSalt &amp; pepper to taste<br \/>\n6 cups vegetable stock<br \/>\nGoat cheese (optional)<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Coat zucchini slices with oil, spread out on a baking pan and roast in a 350 degree oven until soft (15-20 minutes).<\/li>\n<li>Add roasted zucchini to the stock, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 20-30 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>Puree the soup and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.<\/li>\n<li>Garnish with an optional slice of goat cheese in the center of the bowl at service.\u00a0 It\u2019s not mandatory, but it is soooo good!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>Image Credit: Author\u2019s Zucchini Platter in the Prairie Style, but not exactly Frank Lloyd Wright<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>It may be hot out, but it\u2019s still okay to leave your thoughts about this posting in the comments section.\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry about me slaving over the hot laptop to respond ASAP.\u00a0 That\u2019s what AC is for. I\u2019ll be reading <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">and<\/span> responding.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In keeping with my goal of using vegetables that are in season and, the season being summer, keeping kitchen time to a minimum, I bring you the summer squash.\u00a0 One squash in particular, actually: Zucchini. I\u2019ve been a fan of zucchini ever since I was a kid.\u00a0 No surprise there. It\u2019s what you might call [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,14,9,117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cheese","category-no-meat-fish-poultry-dairy-or-any-other-animal-products","category-vegetarian","category-zucchini"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=866"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2257,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866\/revisions\/2257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}