You know the dream where you’re minding your own business, reading the paper in your favorite chair and suddenly you see zucchini flowing into your home through the back door, the windows, down the chimney, through every possible orifice until you’re nearly buried by their weight, your nose clogged with their grassy green aroma?

Common Summer…Dream or Nightmare?

It’s a common summer dream and it can actually take many forms but the theme is always the same: how to manage the abundance of zucchini which is inevitable at this time of year, as zucchini plant go into high gear and produce, produce, produce.  Every dinner guest seems to arrive with a bag of zucchini; growers selling at the market give “bon poids” in zucchini, which means twice as much as you want for the same price, and sometimes one imagines little zucchini walking down the street on their zucchini feet, wondering whom they should invade.

What to do with Such Abundance

So what is there to do with all of this squash, each of which is loveably shiny, tender, and beautiful?  While the American answer might be zucchini bread, the French answer is soup.  And this soup, from PLAT DU JOUR, is just one way to turn the summer zucchini abundance into a delicately delicious dish that will win over everyone, no matter how much zucchini they’ve recently been forced to eat.

Under-Appreciated

I say forced, but the real truth about zucchini is that it’s under-appreciated.  Its nutty flavor is seductive, no matter how it is prepared its flavor can reach a surprising depth of wonderfulness, and eaten raw it offers a wet and wonderful crunch.   

Try this Soup!

Try this soup, then go to my other books and find the zucchini recipes hiding within.  And join in for our LIVE COOKING CLASSES with Susan where you’ll get other ideas for managing the invasion of the zucchini.

Don’t despair!  Retaliate with deliciousness!