Shannon Hale’s Yummy Zucchini Soup
Who doesn’t love a new yummy recipe? And if you love books then who doesn’t love a recipe from one of your favorite authors? Today, I’d like to share with you Shannon Hale’s yummy zucchini soup that she shared with us during your interview with her a couple of months ago. Why zucchini? Of course you remember, right? Because of that HUGE zucchini that Shannon miraculously pulled out of her purse and gave to me.
Shannon’s recipe was simple. In total, this is what she said: Saute onions and zucchini, simmer in chicken broth, puree, then add salt, pepper, nutmeg, cayenne powder, and cream. So I had to gage all of the ingredients. I think I used 2 cans of chicken broth when I think I probably should have used just one because it was a little thin. And I forgot to saute the onions and zucchini first, I think I boiled them in the chicken broth instead and realized my mistake later. Still yummy though. Even now I don’t remember how much of what I used.
Simmering:
After pureeing:
After spices and cream has been added:
I think it turned out delicous. My husband enjoyed it and said it was worth making again. Thanks Shannon for making our dinner turn out. Best part, it was easy!
Make sure to tell me if you end up making this soup!
Shannon Hale is the Newbery Honor author of Princess Academy, as well as Book of a Thousand Days, Goose Girl, Enna Burning, River Secrets, a novel for adults Austenland, and the graphic novel Rapunzel’s Revenge. Visit Shannon at her website.
Check out all of the author submitted recipes featured here.
Edited to add: My wonderful IRL friend Jessica from The Common Mommy Denominator is one of the best cooks that I know. She saw this posted recipe and immediately made it for dinner. She measured out the ingredients so I thought I would pass it on to those of us who need a little help.
Slice thinly 3 small-medium zucchini (unpeeled) and 1/2 of a small onion; saute in 1 T. olive oil over med-high heat w/ 1 t. chopped garlic until lightly browned. Add 2 C chicken broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer 15 minutes until zucchini and onion are soft. Pour all into a blender and puree until smooth (be sure to let some steam escape as you puree, or the hot liquid will blow the top off!!!), then return to the same pot. Over medium heat, stir in 1/4 C heavy cream (or 1/2 and 1/2, or whole milk…but cream is better!), a pinch each of cayenne pepper and nutmeg, a squeeze of lemon juice if you have it (it brightens the flavor but isn’t a must), and season to taste with salt and pepper.
She says, “It’s yummy, it’s beautiful – an enchanting green with faint pale swirls of cream and earthy dark green flecks of zucchini skin complemented by the tiniest bright red flecks of cayenne – and because it’s pureed and bisque-like, uber-velvety.”
Thanks Jessica!
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Category: Author Recipes
Tags: LDS author, recipes, Utah author
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I am not a big fan of zucchini, but I am pretty sure my daughter would eat it just because it is Shannon Hale’s recipe (she loved Princess Academy).
on January 7th, 2009 at 5:18 amI love zucchini and soup so that sounds delicious to me. I’ll have to try it.
on January 7th, 2009 at 6:51 amI just found your blog from a suggestion by my Google Reader and I love it!! I’m excited to try this zucchini recipe next summer because I always have a surplus from the garden.
on January 7th, 2009 at 7:52 amWow! I’m definitely going to star that one. I really love zucchini bread (especially from starbucks), but I’ve never had zucchini soup before.
on January 7th, 2009 at 2:39 pmI *love* zucchini. And Shannon Hale of course. Still envious of your interview
on January 7th, 2009 at 8:05 pmI’m gonna try that…tomorrow! No, seriously, I have chicken broth, 3 small zucchini, some onions, some heavy cream, nutmeg and cayenne in my kitchen RIGHT NOW, and I was thinking I wanted to try something new! I plan to saute first, though, since I’m a huge fan of that yummy oil-browned fonde-flavor, and I’m excited! Thanks, Natasha! YUM!!!!!!
on January 7th, 2009 at 10:12 pmOh, but I love her! She would have a giant zucchini in her handbag. I’ll have to try this.
on January 7th, 2009 at 11:21 pmSandy – I’m sure she would enjoy it as well if she helped make it!
Kathy – You’ll have to tell me if you do.
Jer – Welcome! I’m so glad you like it here! Hopefully, I’ll continue to impress.
Trish – This was the first time I’ve had zucchini soup. I would definitely make it again, especially as I know I could make it even better the second time around.
Jessica – Oh, now I hope you don’t hate it! You’ll have to let me know!
Cuileann – She would and she did! Funniest thing ever.
on January 8th, 2009 at 12:24 amI had just mentioned Shannon this week because I loved the quirkiness of Austenland. So I’m delighted to hear about the zucchini in the handbag…
Also I’ve passed on a badly worded award to you today at Necromancy Never Pays.
on January 8th, 2009 at 8:00 amIt looks delicious. We’ve eaten all our zucchini (including the frozen stuff) so I’ll have to wait until the new garden produces more, come summer.
on January 8th, 2009 at 10:09 amHey Natasha..
I passed by to tell you I have an award for you called The Lemonade Award, please pick it up here ..
http://desertrosebooklogue.blogspot.com/2009/01/lemonade-award.html
on January 10th, 2009 at 1:51 amI was just stopping by to see if you had any new posts. Are you taking a blog holiday? I hope you are doing well!
on January 10th, 2009 at 2:55 pmI adore Shannon Hale and that soup looks delicious. I’ve spent a little time on your site and I must tell you that it is very impressive!! So glad that I found you via
http://heatherlo.wordpress.com/ website!!
Excellent blog!!
on January 11th, 2009 at 1:41 pmThat sure looks good! Thanks for sharing this with us
on January 11th, 2009 at 5:38 pmJeanne – Thank you for the badly worded award. I swear, one day I’m going to track that thing backwards to figure out where it originated.
Jeane – I can’t stand to buy zucchini when there is so much of it during the summer.
Desert Rose – Thank you!
Alyce – No. Just stressing out about my blog less this year. And so far it feels GREAT!
Staci – Well, welcome! I’m glad you left a comment and I hope you stick around! I love new readers.
Samantha – You’re welcome.
on January 12th, 2009 at 6:20 pmI might be able to get my mom to try this but everyone else happens to be very picky of eaters
on January 13th, 2009 at 2:22 pmThanks so much. I was looking for zucchini recipes on the internet, and this is just what I had in mind.
I’ll try to come back for books next time.
on July 12th, 2009 at 8:45 pm