I am aware that my kids may be the exception here, but they live for vichyssoise. Seriously. When we were planting potatoes this summer the kids looked at me blanky until I explained that we could make almost endless vichyssoise and homefries. That got their attention and they got their hands in the dirt, STAT!
I can’t explain their fascination with cold potato and leek soup logically. My eldest and second born eat anything I put in front of them. My third born, not so much with most veggies, but he’s coming around. My fourth born has a nearly clinical paranoia of all foods vege and green. The only exceptions are green grapes and Granny Smith apples. My fifth born dislikes anything he decides to dislike whenever he feels like it with no pattern whatsoever. Naturally, any food they all like predicably gets shoved into the rotation as frequently as possible.
We are, however, being overrun by man eating zucchini right now. We have zucchini the size of femurs that seemingly grow overnight in our garden. Obviously, once the skin gets thick they get tossed to the chickens (and NOT on them as some people around here seem to think is the best way to get their attention.) Miraculously, some of these gargantuan zukes still have delicate skin and very few seeds. That makes it human fare!
I have grown somewhat weary of three versions of “I don’t like zucchini” at our dinner table so I employed subterfuge to great effect last night. A beam of light came down from heaven and illuminated my zucchini and blender. It was divine inspiration. I made zucchini-ssoise. Or faux-chyssoise. Or whatever you want to call it. This soup is also good warm, but really people, it’s August… If you want warm soup go for it. Just not here.
Faux (a.k.a.) Zucchini Vichyssoise. Delicious no matter what you call it!
Faux-chyssoise
Ingredients:
- 3 TB chopped onion
- 3 TB butter
- 3 TB flour
- 2 C milk
- 1 C water
- 1 tsp chicken bouillon granules
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 4 cups shredded zucchini (approximately 1 large zucchini)
- 1 c. (4 oz.) cheddar cheese, shredded
In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender. Stir in flour until blended. Gradually stir in milk, water, bouillon, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thick. Add zucchini. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes or until zucchini is tender. Stir in cheese until melted.
Puree in your blender in two batches, making sure to remove the center part of your blender lid and cover with a tea towel. This is important because it allows the steam to escape the blender without blowing the lid off the whole shebang!
This yields 4 servings, so my advice is to double this because you’re going to want leftovers. Serve hot or super chilled. So, so good. Please try this!
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