Courgette Soup With Basil

I don't know about you, but the courgette plants in my vegetable garden are churning out fruit on a daily basis - I can't pick them quick enough! As a result, recipes containing courgettes are every where in our kitchen. It's courgette fritters, courgette quiche and I'm even contemplating trying courgette wine, if I can get the right recipe. However, an easy dish to use up a 'ton' of the fruit (not quite) is this soup with basil. While this recipe serves six people, I usually double up the ingredients to use up more courgettes and then freeze half the soup for another day. I blogged this same recipe in 2016, but it's worth a second run. Go on try it.

Ingredients: (serves 6)
4tbs vegetable oil
25g butter - softened
1 large onion - finely chopped
750g courgettes - sliced
2 potatoes - cut into cubes
1.5 litres vegetable stock
2tbs chopped basil
1 garlic clove - finely chopped
2 eggs
25g Parmesan cheese - grated
salt and pepper

Method:

• Heat the oil and half the butter in a large saucepan. 
• Fry the onion over a low heat until golden but not brown. Add the courgettes, mix well and fry over a low heat for 10 minutes.
• Add the potatoes and fry over a medium heat for 3 minutes, stirring well, then add the stock. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 40 minutes.
• Pour into a blender or food processor and blend the mixture until smooth.
• In a bowl, mix together the basil with the garlic, eggs, the rest of the butter and the Parmesan cheese. Then beat thoroughly until well mixed.
• Trickle the soup into the egg mixture and add a good dash of salt and pepper. Pour the soup back into a pan and reheat.
• Dish up the soup and sprinkle with extra grated Parmesan cheese or trickle with a little cream. Eat straight away with fresh crusty bread.