Courgette and mint soup

British chilled summer soup of courgette, potato and fresh mint

Origin: United Kingdom

From the journey of Zucchini.

When Elizabeth David published French Provincial Cooking in 1960, she introduced the courgette to a British readership that had long made do with the oversized waterlogged marrow. The courgette, tender, quick-cooking, and mild, suited the postwar British kitchen perfectly, and a generation of home cooks embraced it through the 1960s and 70s. Courgette and mint soup became one of the signature dishes of this era: simple enough for a weeknight, elegant enough for a dinner party, and served either warm in winter or chilled in the English summer. It represents the moment British cooking began to look outward, towards the Mediterranean, and found something worth keeping.

Ingredients

Main

  • 600 g courgettes (about 4 medium), roughly chopped
  • 1 medium potato, peeled and diced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 30 g butter
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 900 ml good vegetable or chicken stock
  • 1 large handful fresh mint leaves
  • salt and white pepper

To serve

  • 4 tbsp crème fraîche or double cream, to serve
  • extra mint leaves, to garnish

Method

  1. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook gently for 8 minutes until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
  2. Add the diced potato and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes until the potato is just tender.
  3. Add the chopped courgettes and simmer for 5–6 minutes until just tender but still bright green. Do not overcook; the colour and freshness are everything.
  4. Remove from the heat. Add the mint leaves and blend immediately until very smooth. Season well with salt and white pepper.
  5. Serve warm with a spoonful of crème fraîche and a few fresh mint leaves, or refrigerate for at least 2 hours and serve chilled. Both are correct.
The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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