Day 239/365: The conquest of the squashes: Round 1

[nanila]

[Keiki and Humuhumu put themselves into the stocks at Moseley Old Hall.]

My main accomplishment today was turning two gigantic marrows into a large quantity of zucchini bread (and muffins), with Keiki's help, and a vat of this soup.

The soup was hands down the best I've ever made, although due to the size of the marrow I was defeating (2.5 kg) and the bareness of our cupboards after our holidays, I had to make the following modifications.

• Quantity of potato that should have been used: 1.25 kg. Quantity of potato I actually used: Dunno. The bloke helped the kids dig up part of the crop in our garden. I washed, peeled, and chopped those.
  
• Stock cubes: 1 vegetable, 1 herb, 3 beef. Should have been 5 vegetable, but see the part above about the state of our cupboards.
  
• Added chives because Keiki picked them.
  
• Quantity of extra-mature cheddar in the house: None. Quantity of Cheshire cheese: 200 g. Should have been 250 g according to the recipe, but I used what I had.
  
• Time allegedly needed to cook down the courgettes: 5 minutes. Time actually spent cooking down the courgettes until I could get a stick blender into the pot: 12 minutes.

I highly recommend this as a way to use up excess courgette or marrow. Apparently you can freeze it, but at the rate we yummed it up today, I don't think it'll last that long.


As you can see, the battle against the squash may have been won this weekend, but the war is far from over. Those apples come from a tree that was planted by the ladies who owned this house before us. They have the most incredible flavour. Slightly tart but with a strong, wild-strawberry perfume. After I press post, I shall be going downstairs and eating one.

Comments

[caulkhead]

Yay soup! If you cut the apples, do they have a slightly pinkish tinge? They sound like Gascoyne Scarlets (my parents grow them and mmm, now I want one).

[perennialanna]

Discovery also have a pinkish tinge, but not the hint of strawberry.

[nanila]

Yes, they do! Thank you for the identification. \o/

[st_aurafina]

The summer zucchini glut! It's lurking in my future now, though we haven't planted any. That soup sounds so good!

If it helps, I have a zucchini tag on my pinboard: Zucchini recipes. I haven't made all of these, unless they're tagged 'imadethis', but I can recommend it in chocolate cake.

[nanila]

Highly recommend the soup. It scales up well.

Ooh, thank you for the list! I like the sound of courgette & ricotta tart. It looks like a courgette pizza. :D

[st_aurafina]

Oooh, yes, I've made that one - it is good. And I think it would actually make a great pizza topping. I make a big batch of sauteed zucchini and keep it in the fridge for a few days, then it's easy to throw the tart together after work.

[uninvitedcat]

Thank you for the soup recipe! I abruptly terminated my courgette glut by removing the two plants, and this recipe is making me regret that right now...

[nanila]

You're welcome! I hope it serves you well in future. It scaled up very well.

[cmcmck]

That soup sounds divine.

As for us, we're heading for pumpkin soup central tomorrow! :o)

[nanila]

I had the soup for lunch today. Probably a lot more of it than I needed. ;)

Hope you enjoy Pumpkin Soup Central!

[qian]

Those apples are beautiful! What luxury to have fresh fruit and veg from your own garden.

[nanila]

It is, especially since some of it (e.g. raspberries, loganberries, wild strawberries, apples) is not a result of our own efforts!