Green Soup

Green Soup

After being inspired by all the fresh seasonal produce at Kenyon Hall Farm the other week I decided to see what Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says about what to cook this time of year in the River Cottage Year recipe book. In between August and September type time, was a recipe for a soup which used loads of courgettes, and as previously stated, Red Soup was getting a bit monotonous, so I thought to give it a try.

Recipe as follows:

1 kilo of firm courgettes

2 garlic cloves

750ml milk

3-4 tablespoons goats cheese

With such simple ingredients, and the addition of yummy goats cheese, surely this soup is a winner.

Hugh says to chop the courgettes to about coin thickness and to fry gently, with the finely chopped garlic, for about 20 mins, until most of the water has evaporated and they are soft, but not browned. This seemed to take an awful lot longer for me. Then either mash the courgettes or blitz them in a food processor. I chose to blitz.

The next step was to melt the goats cheese in. I'd bought a smallish cheese which was about 3 tablespoons at a guess. Maybe more. But I do like goats cheese.

It did look a bit gloopy, and the rind wasn't melting too well, and for a moment I thought Hugh had gone mad, but I persevered.

Next, was to heat the milk and add it bit by bit to the courgette mixture until it reaches the consistency required. I added all the milk as it seemed to come together well. I did blitz it again with a stick blender to break down the cheese rind and to give it a final mix.

 
 
The soup was lovely, and it was a first for me using milk. I did think it needed quite a bit of seasoning which the recipe didn't suggest, but this would probably depend on the type of goats cheese used, and the amount of it. All in all, very nice, and I think I will be doing it again.