Zucchini Vichyssoise

Potato leek soup can be excellent, or it can be so so and a little heavy. It can be served hot or cold. So many options. This rendition included zucchini, was excellent, and was served warm. Adding zucchini to the mix was an inspired approach. The recipe is found in Barefoot in Paris by Ina Garten.

The instructions suggest passing the soup through a food mill to puree. I really think a blender is the way to go here. The smoothness you get from blender pureeing is ideal. And then, there’s the zucchini. Including it did a couple of things that were very tricky of that zucchini. It made the soup less dense and the texture very silky. I even omitted the bit of cream that is to be added after pureeing because the soup was already so smooth and delicious just as it was. The mild zucchini complemented the potatoes and leeks nicely, and the consistency was perfect.

I’m not a huge fan of chilled soups, so I can’t offer any comments on it in a chilled state, but it did re-heat beautifully for lunch the next day. I can also highly recommend a grilled cheese sandwich on the side made with sharp white cheddar.