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Oh So Delicious Homemade Vegetable Soup Recipe
This is rather a basic soup but do not let that fool you into thinking it might be bland because it is not. Sometimes all you need to make a wonderfully flavored soup is vegetables, garlic, and seasonings. The vegetables give a wholesome and fresh flavor to the soup and they have plenty of flavor of their own. Adding too much seasoning would simply overpower the vegetable flavor so keep it fresh and tasty and rest assured that this healthy soup is just as delicious as it is healthy.
This potato and vegetable soup is very satisfying and goes beautifully with warm bread and butter on the side or some hot and crusty bread for dunking. You can use fresh parsley instead of the fresh mint to garnish it or even cilantro. Since you are only using vegetables and garlic to flavor the soup, as well as little salt and pepper, you can use any kind of fresh herb garnish you like and know that it will look and taste good.
The chunky vegetables make this soup look especially appetizing but if you prefer a non-chunky soup, you can blend it for thirty seconds using a hand blender and serve it with a swirl of sour cream on the top as well as the fresh mint sprigs. You can get creative with this recipe. You can substitute any vegetables you want, as long as you give them adequate cooking time, so everything is cooked well and soft.
Potato, Yellow Zucchini and Tomato Soup
Ingredients -
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 medium sized onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 yellow zucchini, roughly chopped
4 cups chicken or vegetable bouillon
6 medium potatoes, roughly chopped
3 tomatoes, peeled and cut into eighths
3 cups water
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 fresh mint sprigs, to garnish
Preparation:
Heat the butter with the oil on a medium heat in a soup pot or large saucepan.
Sauté the onion, garlic and zucchini for 4 minutes.
Add the chicken stock, tomatoes, water, and potatoes.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Bring to the boil, then cover, turn the heat down to low and boil gently until the potatoes are soft.
This should take around 15 minutes.
Check the seasoning and serve piping hot with warm, crusty bread and butter on the side.
Garnish with fresh mint and serve.
(Serves 4)
Wine Suggestion:
Which Wine to Serve with Homemade Vegetable Soup Recipe
For this easy vegetable soup recipe, you will find that a Merlot is a fantastic pairing. The black cherry, caramel and plum flavors and the wine's overall fruitiness ensures it will be a delicious accompaniment to your healthy vegetable soup recipe. Avoid Cabernet Sauvignon or anything too heavy with this soup but Merlot is ideal.
Photo Description:
As the picture shows, this wonderful vegetable soup is simply yet appealing. The sprig of mint finishes it off perfectly, although you might prefer to puree the soup and serve it with a swirl of cream on top instead; that is up to you. This recipe for vegetable soup is a great way to use up any veggies in the refrigerator which are past their prime and you can put pretty much anything into the soup. You might even like to add a splash of chili sauce to give it a kick although it is also good just as it is and the vegetables give this homemade soup recipe plenty of natural flavor.
Tips for Using Zucchini
Zucchini features in many dishes, from a tasty homemade vegetable soup recipe to stews, salads and hot or chilled appetizer recipes. A big zucchini has more water than a smaller one and some cooks like to drain some of the water out before cooking the zucchini. To do this, slice the zucchini and sprinkle salt over the slices.
Rinse the salt off, under cold running water, and pat the zucchini dry before using it. You can also do this with eggplant to remove the excess water and the bitter flavor. Because zucchini contains a lot water, it is best to cook it quickly or steam it. Ratatouille is a famous zucchini dish which also contains eggplant, tomatoes, and sweet peppers.
One pound of zucchini is three cups of chopped or sliced zucchini or three medium-sized whole ones. Most types of summer squash are interchangeable in recipes so if you cannot find zucchini for your homemade vegetable soup recipe, use chayote, patty pan squash, and yellow squash or Zephyr summer squash instead.
Homemade Vegetable Soup with Zucchini
Zucchini is healthy because it is low in calories and rich in vitamins A and C. You do not need to peel zucchini or even cook it. Once you trim the stem end away, the whole vegetable is edible. If you overcook zucchini it will turn to mush and the only way to save it is to make a vegetable soup recipe with the mush. Zucchini is a popular addition to homemade vegetable soup and you can add it slices, cubed, finely diced, or even roughly chopped if you are going to puree the soup.
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