Creamy Sweet Potato & Zucchini Soup
I’ve noticed that you often run out of ideas for dinner. Sandwiches again? How about something healthy, light and at the same time nutritious? Maybe a quick cream soup? What’s important, you can prepare this recipe using leftover vegetables from your fridge, which means no need to visit the shop. Today I go for sweet potato and courgette, but you can use any other vegetables just as well: cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, parsley root, celery, potatoes or tomatoes.
Preparation
I peeled the sweet potatoes and courgette and cut them into small pieces. Then I fried finely chopped onion and garlic in olive oil and added grated ginger. I cooked the sweet potatoes in vegetable stock and after 15 minutes added the courgette and cooked just a little while longer, until it was tender. I blended all the ingredients and seasoned the soup. At the end I stirred in some parsley and coriander. I also recommend serving the soup with a few drops of truffle oil.
The two vegetables go in fifteen minutes apart
This is the step that looks like a detail and is the whole recipe. Sweet potato needs around 15 to 20 minutes to soften; courgette needs five. Put them in together and by the time the sweet potato is ready the courgette has fallen apart, given up its water and thinned the soup.
The same rule is what makes the invitation to use up whatever is in the fridge workable. Group the vegetables by how long they take: root vegetables, carrot and celery with the sweet potato at the start; cauliflower and broccoli about halfway; courgette, tomato and anything leafy in the last five minutes. Cut everything to a similar size, because a large cube of carrot outlasts a small one of potato.
How much stock, and why weight rather than volume
The recipe gives 600 g of stock against 550 g of vegetables, which is roughly one to one, and that is what produces a cream soup you eat with a spoon rather than one you drink.
Add most of it at the start and keep a little back. Vegetables release their own water as they cook and how much depends on which ones you used, so the final thickness is only knowable at the blending stage. Loosening a thick soup takes seconds; reducing a thin one costs twenty minutes and the fresh taste along with it.
The ginger belongs in the pan, not the pot
Grated ginger goes in with the fried onion and garlic, in the oil, rather than into the stock. Its aroma compounds are fat-soluble, so a moment in hot oil spreads them through the whole soup, while ginger dropped into water mostly stays where it lands.
Give it thirty seconds and no more. Ginger burns quickly at frying temperature and turns bitter, and at ten grams against half a kilo of vegetables there is not enough of it to hide a mistake.
Blending, and the herbs at the end
Blend it longer than feels necessary. A cream soup is judged almost entirely on texture, and the difference between nearly smooth and completely smooth is about another thirty seconds. An immersion blender is easier here than a jug, mostly because there is nothing to pour and nothing to burn yourself with.
The parsley and coriander are stirred in after blending, not before. Blended fresh herbs turn the soup a murky green and lose the fresh note that is the point of adding them raw. The truffle oil goes on in the bowl, a few drops per portion, since it is a finishing oil and heat destroys what you paid for.
Keeping it
Three days in the fridge, where it thickens, so loosen it with water or stock when reheating. It freezes well for three months, though add the fresh herbs after reheating rather than before freezing.
If you would rather have quick dinners like this one planned into the week with a shopping list, that is what the Diet & Training by Ann app does.
Creamy sweet potato and zucchini soup
Ingredients
Method
- Peel the sweet potatoes and courgette and cut them into small, evenly sized pieces.
- Fry the finely chopped onion and garlic in olive oil, then add the grated ginger for about 30 seconds.
- Cook the sweet potatoes in the vegetable stock for 15 minutes, holding a little stock back.
- Add the courgette and cook a few minutes more, until tender.
- Blend everything until completely smooth and season, loosening with the reserved stock if needed.
- Stir in the chopped parsley and coriander after blending, and serve with a few drops of truffle oil.
Notes
Frequently asked questions
Because sweet potato needs 15 to 20 minutes to soften and courgette needs five. Put them in together and by the time the sweet potato is ready the courgette has fallen apart, given up its water and thinned the soup.
Almost any, as long as you group them by cooking time. Root vegetables, carrot and celery go in with the sweet potato at the start, cauliflower and broccoli about halfway, and courgette, tomato or anything leafy in the last five minutes. Cut everything to a similar size.
Roughly one to one with the vegetables, which here means 600 g of stock to 550 g of vegetables. Add most of it at the start and keep a little back, since vegetables release their own water and the final thickness is only knowable at the blending stage.
Its aroma compounds are fat-soluble, so a moment in hot oil spreads them through the whole soup while ginger dropped into water mostly stays where it lands. Thirty seconds is enough, because ginger burns quickly and turns bitter.
After blending, and in the bowl. Blended fresh herbs turn the soup a murky green and lose the fresh note they were added for, and truffle oil is a finishing oil that heat destroys. Quick dinners like this one come planned into the week with a shopping list in the Diet & Training by Ann app.
Comments No Comments
Join the discussion…