SUMMER HARVEST SOUP

I have been baking way too many sweets these days. Galettes, scones, truffles, caramels, etc. I am CRAVING veggies. We have been eating plenty of summer salads, but it has been too long since I cooked a recipe with veggies in the staring role.

Looking for veggie inspiration, I breezed through the sweet home-grown cookbook SoupLove and was drawn to their Summer Squash and Dill Soup. As I got ready to make their soup, my creative juices got going and I ended up morphing their inspiration into my own summer soup recipe.

My mom's Bolinas onions, our own backyard celery blossoms, freshly harvested garlic, and juicy Meyer lemon - all lovingly cultivated - brought depth and soul to this summery soup.

INGREDIENTS
Inspired by Summer Squash and Dill Soup 
in Soup love by Rebecca Stevens and Nabil Samandi

• 2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 1 very small head of garlic, pressed
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh celery blossoms (or 1/2 teaspoon dried celery seeds)
• sea salt
• pinch cayenne pepper 
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 3 cups diced butterball potatoes
• 4-5 cups homemade chicken stock
• 6 cups diced mixed summer squash
• ground white pepper
• freshly chopped dill

celery blossoms

In a large stock pot or dutch oven, heat olive oil over low heat. Add onions, garlic, celery blossoms, cayenne, and pinch of salt. Stew covered over low heat for about 15 minutes until onions have softened.

When onions are soft, turn up heat on stove to medium and lightly caramelize the onions.

Pour white wine into the pot and scrape any brown tasty onion bits from the bottom. Reduce wine by half.

Add diced butterball potatoes and chicken stock. Simmer until potatoes are tender.

Add squash (and a cup of water or stock if the liquid looks too low). Cover pot and continue to simmer until everything is tender.

Let cool to room temp and then coarsely blend with an immersion blender. Adjust seasoning by adding salt if necessary. Toss in the chopped dill fronds and sprinkle a bit of ground white pepper.

Reheat soup to serve warm and garnish with a dollop of the Chilled Dill Yogurt and maybe even an extra sprig of dill.

FOOD 52 Editor's Pick