Lemon Balm Zucchini Soup

creamy zucchini soup with herbs

Creamy zucchini soup is something every household with at least one zucchini plant makes frequently during summer months – or it should be. You don’t even have to own a garden, it is enough to have a friend or neighbor with zucchini craze, and you will have a few zucchinis weekly on your table, I’m sure. This is because one humble plant produces abundance of zucchinis if there are enough sunny days in your part of the world. Italians have great climate for zucchini’s growth and I think they are the ones that invented this type of soup many moons ago ;) I suppose some gardener just looked around his garden one day, picked up a few basic plants growing relentlessly there, put them in a pot together with a couple of zucchinis, blended and got pleasantly surprised with its delicious flavor. And as it goes with other perfect recipes, this kind of summer green soup is simple to make, and you can’t go wrong by adding some other ingredients (besides onion, zucchini and basil) if you think it could improve its taste. That’s what I did. I looked around my garden one day, noticed plenty of zucchinis, dill, parsley and two big shrubs of lemon balm herb and the idea for the lemon balm zucchini soup was there. With a minimal effort and short list of ingredients, you can make a perfect appetizer, or pair it with your favorite rustic bread and spoonful of (vegan) sour cream and you’ll have great main dish for a lazy summer afternoon – hot, warm and especially cold.

Lemon Balm Zucchini Soup Recipe

simple zucchini soup

Maybe the best thing about this vegan zucchini soup is not its light, delicious velvety taste, nor the simplicity, but rather its health improving feature thanks to the lemon balm herb. Except giving a gentle lemon scent to the lemon balm zucchini soup, this herb (worldwide known as Melissa officinalis) has been used for centuries to stimulate the appetite, relax nervous system, help with anxiety disorder and improve overall mood. So, if you’re planning to tell your family some crazy news, making this soup first would be a pretty clever idea ;)

Lemon Balm Zucchini Soup
 
Author:
Ingredients
  • 3 medium zucchinis*
  • 1 onion
  • 1 handful lemon balm
  • 1 handful fresh dill
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 to 4 cups of water (or vegetable broth)
  • few basil and parsley leaves
  • 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, juice of half lemon (or to taste)
Tools
  • larger pot
  • blender
  • cutting board
  • knife
  • peeler
  • few spoons
Instructions
  1. Dice onion, peel and cut zucchinis into smaller pieces.
  2. Heat the olive oil over low heat; add onion and sauté until translucent.
  3. Add zucchinis and half amount of water, cover it, turn the heat onto medium, bring to boil and cook for 10 minutes, or until zucchinis are tender.
  4. Remove pot from the heat, add herbs and spices.
  5. Pour other half of water, then transfer into blender and blend until smooth.
  6. Return pureed zucchinis into the pot, adjust consistency with water, bring again to boil.
  7. Serve with lemon juice.
 

* For this lemon balm zucchini soup I used light skinned zucchinis and I peeled them to get perfectly smooth soup texture. Because of this, color of the soup is quite light, but if you’d like to get vivid green color for your lemon balm zucchini soup, you shouldn’t peel zucchinis. Color vs. smoothness – it’s up to you to decide…

Posted in main course, soups, vegan dishes. Tagged with , , , , .
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