You have put me in first place!
When I checked the poll last night, I was stunned to see that I was in the lead. There are three more days of voting – anything could happen between now and then. If you have not voted yet, click the ‘NOMINEE’ button to the right – click the ‘bite by michelle’ button then scroll down to the ‘vote’ button and BOB’S YOUR UNCLE!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to vote for me.
I have always thought that it was hilarious that anyone would allow their zucchini to grow to the size of a bat. I often see these mutant sized vegetables at the farmers market and wonder ‘what would you do with it’? In fact, at the beginning of the summer, when I told my neighbor that I was growing zucchini her reaction was priceless! “What do you do with them besides use them as doorstops.” When I told her that I would pick them when they were about six inches long, she was fascinated.
I think the reason that so many people feel that they do not like zucchini is that they have not enjoyed it while it is tender and young.
Now, having said all of this…
I found three mamoth zucchini while we were cleaning up our vegetable garden. Just for fun, I decided to make a soup for Ralph – poor guy!
He has always said that I could make soup out of a boot and he would like it! Well, instead of a boot, I used a bat…
Rather than add a lot of masking ingredients, I kept it fairly simple.
I used leek, some old cheddar and my homemade chicken stock. It is important to take off the harden fat that accumulates on top of the stock.
It is critical to get this fat off of the stock or you will be eating an oil slick!
Zucchini and Old Cheddar Soup
serves 4
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 lbs zucchini, cut into chunks
1 cup leek, cleaned and chopped
6 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups old cheddar, shredded or cut into tiny cubes
sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
In a medium stock pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat.
Add leek and saute for 3 minutes.
Add chopped zucchini and saute along with leek an additional 3 minutes – stir often
Add chicken stock and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer until zucchini is fork tender – check at 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and place the soup solids in food processor and pulse until fairly smooth but still with some small bits of green.
Return to the pot – season with sea salt and pepper.
Bring to a simmer and stir in cheddar cheese – stir until cheese is melted.
I made some cheese croutons for the top, just for some added oomph!
You can use a white or an orange cheddar.
So the next time you walk by one of these big old suckers, grab one and give this soup a go!
Thanks for reading!
