A Cracking Courgette

At last the wind has finally dropped and all is back to normal.  It is a beautiful autumn morning and I was able to get my bicycle out once more for my morning ride to the allotment.

The garden has surived the hurricane quite well, although things are leaning and flattened, especially in the squash and courgette patch.

It is practically impossible to see what is growing in there or to pull the weeds that have grown under the plants, they will just have to wait till I clear the patch.  But I did find this huge(ish) courgette that I will turn into soup, as it is just about the right weight.  This is Pru Leith's recipe which I have used for years, and it is delicious.  The secret to its unique taste is the juice of a lemon right at the end which lifts it out of the ordinary.

Courgette soup with parmesan and crisp proscuitto
olive oil, 1 clove crushed garlic, 750g courgettes, 1 litre chicken stock, 1tbsp fresh thyme, 6 slices proscuitto, 55g parmesan, shaved, juice of 2 lemons, and seasoning.

1. heat the olive oil, add the garlic and sweat for a minute, add courgettes and sweat for 10 mins.
2. Add chicken stock and thyme bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes until courgettes soft. Season
3. Liquidise soup and return to pan
4. Grill proscuitto until crisp and chop into small pieces
5. Reheat soup and stir in lemon juice. Serve with proscuitto and parmesan sprinkled on top

(I use streaky bacon mainly as proscuitto is not usually on my shopping list).

In winter I have soup for my lunch most days, made from vegetables from the garden.  In the late 70's I found a little book which cost 40p, which has every conceivable soup recipe ever thought of.  The book is now falling to bits, the pages are yellow and food stained, but it is indispensable in my 'soup kitchen'.

(check out my latest post on http://elaineintheslowlane.blogspot.com/)