This is a great soup. It’s delicious, quick to make, satisfyingly creamy and extremely good for you. You chop 3 vegetables, cook them in broth, and blend them together. Sounds boring doesn’t it? But it’s one of those recipes where the end result is so much better than it’s humble ingredients. This is a creamless creamy soup. A supreme example of the hidden-vegetable technique – where you use vegetables to achieve unexpectedly wonderful results. The secret to the success of this soup is zucchini. When puréed, zucchini make things creamy.
I served it with some grilled chicken sausages and a salad and it was a great and easy dinner. For lunch the next day I cup up one of the leftover sausages and put it into the soup. It’s great that way too. I’ve adapted a recipe from Epicurious, one of my favorite cooking websites.
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cups diced fresh fennel (from 3-4 large bulbs)
- 2 cups diced zucchini
- 2 cups chopped onion
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 4 cups chicken broth
- Chopped dill (for garnish, optional)
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add fennel, zucchini, onion and fennel seeds. Sauté until chopped fennel is translucent, about 4-5 minutes.
- Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover pot. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
- Puree soup in pot with an immersion blender or transfer to a blender. Blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, top with chopped dill if using and serve.
- Soup may be made 1 day ahead and kept refrigerated. Heat gently before serving.
