Patty Pan (Zucchini) Soup

Patty Pan Squash and other ingredients for Soup

Being so busy with all the food processing, I haven’t really had a chance to post anything new in a while.  But today, I finally decided I need a new post.  Hope you like the soup as much as I do. 

A few weeks ago, actually, about a month ago, I signed up for a CSA.  It’s a relatively local farm (HighCross Farm) that sends me a “small” box of organic produce every week.  Several weeks in a row, I got some some absolutely gorgeous patty pan (or sunburst) squash.  They are in the zucchini family.  But I never know what to do with zucchini, and especially these round zucchini, and I’ve only ever had them pickled (recipe coming later).  So after several days of trying to figure out what to do with the exceptionally pretty produce, I decided to make soup.

Patty Pan Zucchini Soup with Tomato

Oh, not to worry, I still have a crisper drawer full of zucchini of all kinds.  And the other produce in the picture, carrots, peppers, and onion are also from the CSA box.  I guess I can also call it a “CSA Soup”.  One of the best things to do with this soup is to share it.  So go ahead, make an extra large batch and invite some friends, or bring it to your neighbor.  I took this jar of soup to my grandma.  She really likes vegetarian, light soups and she liked this one too.  Made me smile. 

Does anyone know if this would freeze well?  I’d love to find out, so I can make more and freeze it for winter.

I also added a few spices (garlic powder, paprika, and Spanish smoked paprika), as well as a few tomatoes.  But, no stock, of any kind.  I wanted a really light, summery soup, something that won’t weight me down.  Even chicken stock seemed a little heavy at this point, so water it is!

Lemon Thyme and Basil

If you’re even a semi-regular reader, you’ll have noticed that I’m not really a fresh herb kinda person.  Don’t get me wrong, I love fresh herbs, it’s just that I never get to use them before they go bad.  But this time, I actually got a chance to use herbs from my garden.  It was rather thrilling.  Yes, I live dangerously.  LOL.

And yes, this is literally what I used.  Two small sprigs of basil and three-ish sprigs of lemon thyme, with leaves on the stem.  I didn’t know how much I’d like or dislike the flavor so I wanted to be able to remove the thyme quickly, if need be.  And I did.  I liked it enough, but not to keep it in the soup the whole time, just enough to give its essence.  I pulled the basil because it was a little too strong with the delicate zucchini and I didn’t want to overpower things.  But, here are the details of the soup.

Onions and Carrots Sauteing

Veggies and Tomatoes

Patty Pan Soup cooking

Zucchini Soup with Tomatoes

Ingredients:
2 large patty pan squash (about the size of your hand, each), chopped
1 large-ish onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 small-ish carrots, sliced into small circles
2 large-ish tomatoes, chopped
6 cups of water (more or less, depending on how thin or thick you’d like the soup)
1TB of olive oil
Herbs, your preference, but I used basil and lemon thyme
Spices, to taste (salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, Spanish smoked paprika)

Steps:
1. Saute the onions and carrots for about 5 minutes in olive oil.
2. Add patty pan squash and green pepper. Let cook for a few minutes. I added the herbs at this point and let them cook for a few minutes. I then took them out. If you really like your herbs, keep them in the soup.
3. Add only one tomato at this point. Feel free to squish it. You will see it give some juice, which is exactly what you want.
4. Add spices as you go along. Add as little or as much as you like, keeping in mind that when you add water, you might need to adjust the spices some more. Let this cook for about 10 minutes.
5. Add water. I used 6 cups, but you might want to use less, or more.  Let cook about 20 minutes. No picture of this though.  Sorry.
6. Add the second tomato. This will keep it more intact than the squished one you added earlier.