Chilled Zucchini Soup With Lemon and Basil

This soup is delicious! Great way of using summer, zucchini, and basil. Adding mint takes it to the next level. Note to Cooking editors: it would be most helpful if you indicated the yield in cups rather than four servings. Who is to say how much is in a serving? If I knew this yielded 6 cups, I would’ve used a food processor instead of a blender. Using a blender, I had to do the recipe in multiple batches. From start to finish it took me 45 minutes to prepare this soup. Worth it.

In order to guarantee a creamy soup, first place the cashews, lemon juice and just 1/2 cup of the stock in the blender or food processor. Blend to create a creamy liquid. Then add zucchini, basil, garlic, miso, remaining vegetable stock and 1-2 teaspoons salt in the blender or food processor.

David, I’d soak almonds for a few hours or overnight, remove the skins, and use the hydrated nuts in place of cashews. The soaking really softens and plumps the almonds.

This is a delicious soup and I actually liked the slight crunch of the toasted cashews..I did add crumbled feta cheese when serving to increase the protein. A worthy addition to the cold soup roster

Start with the toasted cashews and half of the broth to make a cashew cream, then add the rest of the ingredients if you want a creamy soup. Or just use your own home made cashew cream to taste.

This was delicious with my garden zucchini. I added in 1/2 avocado for some additional creaminess.

There is no way this soup will become creamy or silky. Flavor was good but def not silky no matter how much i blended.

I started in the food processor, which took all ingredients in one batch, but couldn't get it creamy enough. Moved to the Vitamix (in 2 batches) and it has exactly the texture I wanted. More dirty dishes, but don't think I'd have gotten the ingredients to mix properly if I'd started in the blender. Had a sample bowl - think it'll be fabulous once chilled! (P.s. Mine isn't as green as the photo either, even though most of my zukes had very dark skins. Oh well - tastes great!)

I'd suggest macadamia nuts or pistachios.

This was better than expected, actually quite delicious. I made it with half raw zucchini and half leftover zuke that had been grilled with olive oil, salt and pepper. Used plain water in place of veg broth, and three tablespoons pesto, which I had to use up, instead of fresh basil. Kept everything else the same and blended it all in a Vitamix. I wouldn’t say is was creamy, but it was smooth enough to be thoroughly enjoyable. Would def make it again when zucchini gets out of hand.

If you eat dairy, you could try something like a bit of sour cream or creme fraiche to add the creaminess I imagine. Silken tofu could be nice as well, and/or an avocado. If you don't mind the added step of having to cook, blending in some peeled boiled potatoes could be an option as well, though that defeats the purpose of it being basically no-cook.

I can eat pretty much any nuts other than cashews. I'd appreciate any suggestions as to what would be a substitute most in keeping with this dish. Thanks.

Thoughts on swapping cashews for soft tofu in this recipe? Thanks!

The flavor of this was good and I wanted to like it, but the texture is a far cry from creamy or smooth. Lengthy efforts to purée never quite rid it of its grittiness, a texture not unlike cream of wheat. I wonder if using raw instead of roasted cashews and peeling the zucchini would make a difference. I've been eating it with crumbled feta cheese and a little salsa macha.

Fantastic! Easy to make and wonderful on a hot night.