Kent’s small soup bowl is perfect for a light lunch.
We recently finished up another firing at Blue Sage Pottery. This last firing included hundreds of soup bowls. I thought it was odd for Kent to make so many soup bowls in the summer, but then I went out in the garden to find giants! We have grown Zucchini the past few summers because they are easy to grow here! This year we started “Grey Zucchini” from seed, and then transplanted them into some new garden beds. This type of zucchini is a summer squash, perfect for making big batches of soup! I researched a lot of Zucchini Soup recipes online, and most recipes are similar.
“Grey Zucchini” from our garden.
Fresh herbs from our garden!
Usually, you begin by sauteing garlic and onion in butter and oil. Next, add chopped zucchini and saute for a few more minutes. After a few minutes, add the stock and cook for 20 minutes. You really can’t get much easier than that!! Some recipes don’t blend the soup, but I like a creamy blended version best.
In addition to several squashes in the garden, we have many herbs growing. You could add a mixture of rosemary, oregano, lovage, and basil to put your spin on Zucchini Soup. If you haven’t grown herbs before, I highly recommend oregano and lovage, which grow almost as well as mint here in the Panhandle!
Blue Sage Pottery ‘Soup Bowl’
Lovage, a perennial herb, was recommended to me at the May Garden Sale at the Amarillo Botanical Gardens a few years ago. I took home a little Lovage plant and stuck it in a tough spot near the back door, which doesn’t drain well no matter how much I amend the soil. The lovage survived there, so it passed my hardiness test! The following year, I moved it to a slightly raised vegetable garden with better soil, and it has grown into a big, beautiful plant. At the moment, it is hidden by a trio of gargantuan tomato plants, but I am confident that it will be fine. Lovage tastes like celery; like celery, you can eat the leaves and stalk. I chopped the oregano, rosemary, and lovage and threw them in with the onions. I added the basil in the last few minutes of cooking for more flavor! See below for the full recipe!
The best part of making homemade soup is eating it in one of Kent’s bowls. They hold one cup perfectly, which is excellent for a ”soup and salad” lunch. Kent also makes a bigger soup bowl, his Chowder Bowl, that I like best for chili, so I have the extra space to load up on toppings! That is more of a football season meal for us, so I guess I will blog about that in the fall!
