creamy zucchini-mushroom soup

Makes two large servings; easily doubled.

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups zucchini, diced with skins on
1 cup button mushrooms, diced
2 cups broth of your choice (vegetable, chicken)
1/2 cup evaporated milk
pinch each of ground cumin, coriander, ginger, cinnamon, and sugar
pinch of ground chipotle pepper
salt to taste
grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese

Heat olive oil in pot. Saute garlic until translucent. Add zucchini, mushrooms and spices and sugar, and saute for about 4-5 minutes. Add broth and milk, and adjust salt to taste (you may not need it depending on broth).

Bring to a simmer, cook 10 minutes or until zucchini is tender. Puree with (immersion) blender. Top with grated Parmesan or Asiago and serve immediately.

zucchini boats

Tonight I made these zucchini boats [found via Tastespotting] for dinner, and to my delight they not only resembled the photo in the recipe, but also tasted good.

Of course, me being me, I made quite a few substitutions. I substituted Yves' Ground Round for the turkey sausage (and reduced the amount of salt accordingly) and used one tbsp Calvados instead of the two tbsp of dry white wine the recipe called for. I also added a tablespoon of hot sauce instead of using ground pepper.

I give this recipe a thumbs up. It was easy, inexpensive, and tasty.

I ended up with a lot of filling left over, so I baked the leftovers in ramekins and will bring some to work for lunch and dinner tomorrow (it's my long teaching day).

amusing seagull

Your typical pushy Vancouver seagull.