Recipe: Zucchini Dill Soup

This recipe for zucchini dill soup is adapted from a recipe in Susie Fishbein’s Kosher by Design cookbook. When my friend made us the soup, my kids actually loved it (a first for a creamy, pareve vegetable soup). My friend said the secret is use lots of dill. So I renamed this recipe zucchini dill soup (as opposed to zucchini soup alone). My version has a vegetable broth base and less zucchini (but feel free to double the recipe for a crowd or to freeze some of the soup).

Make the Vegetable Broth

In a large pot boil these vegetables in water for over an hour:

• 1 or 2 turnips
• 2 or 3 onions
• 1 large carrot, cut into pieces
• 1 leek
• 2 cloves of peeled garlic
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1 bay leaf

If you are missing any of the above, don’t worry. As long as you have some vegetables, it will taste good! Feel free to find your own substitutes (you could use parsnips, for example, but I find those too sweet). Onions, though, are a pretty good idea for a vegetable broth.

Make the Zucchini Dill Soup

• 5-6 cups of vegetable broth
• 2-4 zucchini, trimmed and cut in chunks
• 2-3 onions
• 1 bunch of chopped dill (fresh)
• 1 bunch of chopped parsley (fresh, optional)
• 1-2 garlic cloves, peeled
• olive or coconut oil, to saute the onions
• salt and pepper to taste
• optional: add fresh lemon juice

In a large pot, saute the onions and garlic until translucent. Add the zucchini for about 3-5 minutes. Add dill and parsley. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, for 25 minutes.

Either transfer the soup to a blender or food processor to blend until smooth, or use an immersion blender. My food processor worked better than my immersion blender. Season with salt and pepper.

The lemon juice was not in Susie Fishbein’s recipe, but the last time I made the zucchini dill soup recipe, I squeezed in half of a fresh lemon. I liked it with lemon.

Update: when you add the broth, you have a choice of just adding the liquid broth or including some of the vegetables, such as the root vegetables (turnips and carrots), garlic and/or onions. I would remove the celery and leek, because they are stringy. Definitely take out the bay leaf.