Earlier this month I was invited to try out the menu at the Balkan restaurant called Ambar in the Eastern Market neighborhood of DC. I asked my friend Evi to be my +1, and we put ourselves in the hands of the chef. Sometimes it's nice to surrender control and let someone else be in charge.
We enjoyed the view from the second floor of the restaurants and sipped on our beverages of choice: Evi had a glass of Serbian red wine, and I had a mango cocktail (of course!). I was surprised that out of all the dishes we tried, I liked the vegetarian ones the most. Those dishes included a cold zucchini soup and cheese pies. I liked the zucchini soup so much, I decided to recreate it in my own kitchen.
Summer Zucchini Soup Recipe Inspired by Dinner at Ambar Restaurant in DC
Serves 6
Ingredients
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 large Russet potato, peeled, diced
1 white onion, diced
3 zucchini, diced
salt
32 ounces low fat chicken stock
heavy cream to taste
garnish
6 sundried tomatoes, chopped
drizzle of the oil from sundried tomatoes
chopped fresh basil
Directions
1. Heat the olive oil in a soup pot. Add potatoes and saute for 5 minutes.
2. Add diced onion and zucchini, season with salt and saute for 5 more minutes.
3. Cover the vegetables with the chicken stock, bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer covered until the vegetables are completely tender.
4. Using a stick blender, puree the soup, adding a few splashes of heavy cream at the end. Check for seasoning.
5. Let the soup cool down, and then chill it in the refrigerator for at least a few hours.
6. Serve topped with chopped sundried tomatoes, a drizzle of oil and fresh basil.
I think I did a pretty good job replicating the soup from Ambar. I liked it so much, I even ate it for breakfast a few times ;)
Of course you can serve this soup hot or at room temperature. This is a great way to use up all your summer zucchini!
What do you cook with your zucchini?
9 comments:
This is gorgeous...and I'm making it! I have a bunch of zucchini but not enough of fresh tomatoes; sun-dried I can do!
I do make a zucchini casserole we love. It is SO old school, from an ancient cookbook but it's so good that it is always gobbled up. From Church of the Sacred Heart, in Florissant, MO, circa 1960's:
http://www.creative-culinary.com/zucchini-and-cream-cheese/
please let me know how it comes out!!
I bought some very strange looking ones at the farmers market Saturday; the same coloring but round balls, more like little pumpkins. Perfect for chopping. I've grown so fond of veggie soups like this in the past couple of years; this is truly right up my alley.
And yes...mine has cheese and butter; how could it not be good right? But really, you can actually taste the zucchini, promise!
I think I would love this soup! I made zucchini quesadillas the other night, and I've done stuffed zucchini and ratatouille this summer too.
zucchini is ruling my kitchen these days. I made cheesy quinoa with zucchini & muffins.
I never really acquired the taste for zucchini (it's a texture thing). The only way I tolerate it is fresh from the grill.
Can you make this soup without the potato?
Hi,
Yes, you can definitely make the soup without the potato, but it'll be slightly thinner and lack the body. I would suggest you use less liquid then.
Let me know how it turns out!
To make a truly vegetarian dish replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock :)
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