Dairy Free “Cream” of Zucchini Soup

I don’t make “cream” soups because I mostly  serve soup on Friday nights when we have a meat-based meal and it’s simply not practical to serve a dairy soup because we keep Kosher.

However, recently we showed you how olive oil is a great replacement for butter in most recipes. So how about using your Galilee Green olive oil to replace the cream in “creamy” soups?

This soup really surprised me as I have never used our olive oil  as a soup thickener. I expected it might be not as creamy and less depth of flavor than using actual cream. Boy was I wrong!

Zucchinis are always plentiful in Israel. They are the kind that have a light green thick skin. Even though I prefer the use the skins of most fruit and vegetables these zucchini really need be peeled. I did leave ½ of a zucchini unpeeled for this recipe for the added flavor. If you find green zucchini you don’t need to peel them.

You will need some soup stock so at the bottom of the page is a recipe you can make in minutes!

Dairy Free “Cream” of Zucchini Soup

Ingredients:

• ½ cup of Galilee Green Olive Oil
• 1 sliced cooking onion
• 8 to 9 large cloves garlic, sliced thinly
• 4 medium zucchini
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth (see below)
• 1 teaspoon of grated fresh ginger or ½ teaspoon powdered ginger
• Salt, black pepper and hot pepper flakes to taste

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a heavy 4-quart pot over medium heat
2. Add the sliced garlic and onions and cook on medium-low heat until the onion is soft and translucent making sure that the garlic doesn’t brown
3. When the onions are soft, add the zucchini and cook until soft
4. Add the broth and bring to a simmer at a low heat for about 45 minutes
5. Let cool slightly and blend with an immersion blender until the soup is creamy
6. Taste and season with ginger, salt and pepper
7. Makes 6 cups

The soup was pleasantly creamy and full of subtle layers of glorious flavor. I especially liked the ginger.  Who knew you could make a such creamy soup without cream? The secret is in the olive oil and garlic.  And this soup froze really well. ENJOY!!