This can be made using tinned or fresh tomatoes or tomato puree- and lots and lots and lots of courgette.
Varying the herbs and spices added can make a whole range of flavours, and it can be served hot or cold.
If you make it thick- or don't blend it- you can use it as pasta sauce, or even as a pizza topping: It's a great way to get kids to eat courgette without noticing!
It freezes well, so is a great option for stashing away lots of courgette ready for winter.
Using breadcrumbs and lentils as suggested in our rhubarb and tomato soup recipe is another handy variation- but if you're careful not to add too much water, the soup ends up amazingly creamy in any case - though it's completely vegan!
Ingredients
Courgette- any amount, up to as much as will fit in the pan, roughly chopped.
3-4 onions, roughly chopped
3-4 cloves garlic (optional)
2-3 tins of tomato, or a tube of puree, or a dozen fresh tomatoes, or a jar of passata...
Salt, pepper, herbs and spices to taste
Vegetable oil (2-3tbsp)- we like to use oil saved from Aldi sundried tomato jars if possible but any oil is fine
Water
You will also need
A chopping board and sharp knife
A large pan
A wooden spoon
A stick blender (if blending the soup).
Method
Gently fry the onions and garlic in the oil until soft.
While the onions are frying, roughly chop the courgette. If the courgette have turned into marrows, you may want to peel off the skin and scoop the seeds out of the middle, so you just use the flesh.
Add the courgette to the pan and leave for a few minutes.
Add the tomatoes to the pan.
Rinse tomato tins by half-filling with water and tipping into the pan. If not using tinned tomatoes, add 1-3 cups water, so the vegetables can cook without sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Add salt, pepper, dried herbs or spices as you like. The picture below shows dried grape vine leaves in our last batch of this soup. They taste nice!
Cover and leave to cook on a medium heat, stirring occasionally- or put in an oven at 140 degrees C for an hour or two until the vegetables are all soft and the soup is simmering.
Add fresh herbs (shown below, basil from the greenhouse), and blend if you wish.
Add more water and seasonings to taste.
Serve- with bread, or stirred into pasta or as pizza topping...
A really nice variation if you have time is to grate the courgette and chop the onions more finely, then add a bit more water to make a more sophisticated consomme- type soup- but in this version, you can't disguise the courgette!
Dried vine leaves simmering with onions
You can add a LOT of courgette to this recipe! Here, tough skin has been roughly peeled off before cooking (the courgette turned into a marrow again...)
Ready for blending- or eating as a casserole- with extra pepper and fresh basil
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