As the temperature drops and the skies darken at an earlier hour there is nothing more comforting than a bowl of creamy soup to nurse while watching some good Sunday night TV.

This recipe was in yesterday’s The Age Good Weekend liftout. I usually cut out interesting recipes from the weekend papers and file them away, but I was able to put this one to good use the very next day.

I substituted evaporated milk for cream, and vegetarian stock for the chicken stock, but retained the simplicity of the rest of the original recipe. I even resisted the urge to add chilli and was more than happy with just a generous grind of pepper.

The garlic infuses the delicate zucchini wonderfully, and the butter adds a decadent flourish at the end.

Definitely a soup I will be revisiting again.

Ingredients

750g Zucchini (cut into 1cm thick pieces)

olive oil

5 cloves of garlic

1 bunch of basil

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 litres vegetable stock

125ml evaporated milk (or cream)

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

40g grated parmesan

Method

1. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saucepan and saute the zucchini, basil, garlic and salt. Cook for 10 minutes until the zucchini softens.

2. Add the stock and bring to the boil, then allow to simmer on a low heat for 8 minutes

3. Blend the soup (I use a hand-held blender) to your preferred consistency. Return the soup to the heat and add the evaporated milk, butter and parmesan. Heat for a minute on a low heat before serving.

Serves 4.

Advertisement