and a Sunday walk around the southern tip of West Burra, Shetland.
What a beautiful summer we’ve been having! This summer has honestly been one of the best summer’s weather-wise, we’ve had in a very long time. The BBC news reported recently that it’s been sunnier up here in Shetland than it has in Cornwall, which isn’t a very common occurrence!
We’ve been taking advantage of this fine weather with as many outings as we can go on during the school holidays, and last weekend we packed a picnic lunch and headed to West Burra, on the south west side of Shetland, for a spot of adventuring.
I took my family to a place where I went rock climbing once, 18 years ago, long before I had children. I can hardly believe I’d only been to this area once before. To get to it, cross over Banaminn Beach, Shetland’s Carribean style sandy beach and climb up over the hill. There are two places you can get down/up fairly easily with a bit of a scramble. Perfect for family micro-adventures.
I remembered basking on the black rocks in the sunlight, the first time I visited this place, and much to my delight the weather was absolutely perfect on Sunday for my family to recreate that experience.
It’s also peak veg box season just now. Our weekly veg box comes bursting with all sorts of gorgeous fresh produce, including courgettes. It can often be difficult to come up with ideas to use up all of these courgettes (they’re not my family’s favourite veg, I have to say!) but let me tell you, this Italian-style courgette and basil soup? This will solve any courgette glut problems you might have!
The original recipe is one I found on the BBC Good Food website which I slightly adapted to use ingredients I had on hand – namely double cream (and twice the quantity) replacing their single cream and swapping their Parmesan for Grana Padano cheese (which my husband prefers as it’s less smelly!).
I was surprised to see that the original recipe had no onion in it, but I thought I’d give it a try to see and I was really impressed how deliciously flavoursome it was. I think an onion would detract away from the subtle flavour of the courgettes and basil.
I also pureed the whole lot instead of leaving some pieces of the vegetable whole, as the original recipe calls for. This was because I was pouring it into a flask and not taking any cutlery on our walk. There’s something satisfying about drinking soup out of a tin mug with a piece of crusty bread to dip, don’t you think? Above, our youngest son models said ingredients (his idea to poise the bread above so it looked like he was about to dip it.)
All in all, it’s a rather fantastic recipe and it will become my go-to courgette recipe for when those things reproduce exponentially in my vegetable crisper!
I’ve been experimenting with making a chocolate chunk courgette banana loaf, adapting our favourite banana loaf recipe to include grated courgette. I’m still tweaking the quantities to get the right consistency. The kids are devouring the experimental loaves though, with much delight! The perfect fuel for outdoor summer adventures.
The above photo is one of my favourite images taken during our hike. My husband and youngest son deployed a fleet of limpet shell boats on one side of a small pond, watching as the light breeze sailed them across. They didn’t make it, of course, and any limpet shell boats that didn’t sink on their own accord were sunk with pebble cannon balls thrown from shore.
What’s your favourite way to use up courgettes? Let me know in the comments!
Italian-Style Courgette & Basil Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp good quality olive oil I use Pomora, see link in sidebar
- 1 kg courgettes cut into 1 cm cubes
- 3 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 handful fresh basil leaves torn, plus extra to garnish
- 750 ml chicken stock
- 100 ml double cream
- 50 grams Grana Padano cheese grated
- Shetland sea salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
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Instructions
- Heat oil in a large soup pan over a medium heat.
- Gently saute the courgettes, garlic and basil for 10 minutes until the vegetables begin to soften.
- Add the chicken stock and simmer with the lid off for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat, puree with a blender or hand blender. Add the cream and cheese and stir until the cheese has melted.
- Serve with extra Grana Padano cheese and fresh basil.
Notes
Environmental Information
OTHER COURGETTE RECIPES YOU MIGHT LIKE
Courgette & Almond Polenta Cake
Roasted Courgette Salad with Lemon, Chilli, Basil & Crispy Shallots
Zesty Courgette & Leek Soup
Caramelized Courgette Soup
Creamy Courgette Puff Pastry Tart
Courgette & Hummus Pizza
Roasted Courgette, Tomato, Feta & Basil Tart
Turkish Zucchini Fritters
Courgette Quinoa Waffles
Grilled Courgette Salad with Feta & Pomegranate
Creamy Curried Courgette Noodles
Courgette Ribbon Salad
Baby Courgette Kimichi Recipe
Sausage Ragu Stuffed Courgettes
Quick Courgette Blue Cheese Soup
15-Minute Creamy Spinach Courgetti with Salmon
Courgette & Basil Soup with Foccacia Toast
Courgette & Poppyseed Muffins
Broad Bean & Courgette Soup with Gouda
Chocolate Courgette Loaf
Courgette Spaghetti Alfredo
Spiced Tomato & Courgette Chutney
Broad Bean & Courgette Salad
Courgetti Bolognese
Slow Roasted Rack of Lamb with a Creamy Mustard Tarragon Sauce
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I love Basil! I put it in almost everything that I cook! This looks like a tasty soup:)
Ah yes…. the courgette glut! We are certainly having one of those at GF HQ. Your soup looks lovely…. may have to try this one!
I have just perfected a lovely courgette-cacao breakfast cake which is so yummy. Hoping to blog it soon xx
Oooh this sounds gorgeous, it’s always nice to use seasonal produce isn’t it!? Looks like the perfect setting to enjoy your soup, too 🙂
I love courgettes and my favourite way to eat them is to empty them out keeping the skins only then refilling with the chopped courgette, other veg, top with cheese then bake, so easy and delicious! This soup sounds really nice though and I actually prefer soup without lumps so will definitely remember to try this one.
This looks like such a great recipes. You took some great photos too.
We have the same mugs! It would never occur to me to take soup out and about – I need to remember this one!
First of all, how unfair you’ve had such wonderful weather!! We’ve had rain rain rain and its awful! But secondly I will forgive you because this soup looks and sounds so amazing! My husband is a huge soup fan so I’m passing the recipe on to him xx
I love homemade courgette soup, never thought to add basil but loving the idea. Added to my list!
I have soooo many courgettes just on the cusp of being ready! I really want soup now. I’ll be making this at the weekend. I’ll share the pic on Instagram 🙂
Wow what a fab recipe – I always need inspiration especially when it comes to soup! I’ll definitely be book-marking this one
This looks delicious and the perfect outdoor food x
I am not usually a fan of soup but this sounds great. I will try making mine and see how it turns out.
I just love courgette so I might have to try this soup! Thank you for sharing he recipe it looks so yummy. xx
I’m super fussy with soup but I need to eat more vegetables so I might have to try this recipe x
Aw I love this recipe, so easy to make. You have beautiful photography by th way!
First of all, wow you live in a beautiful place! Absolutely stunning. Secondly, my partner is a huge fan of courgette but I’m not. I do however like soup so this might be a good recipe for us both.
I never even thought to use courgette’s in soup!! Looks so delicious and I LOVE your soup mugs 🙂
I absolutely love the taste of basil. This soup looks delicious and perfect for storing in the fridge or for lunches yum
Great soup and how lovely to go walking with a thermos of hot soup – your photos of the place are realy beautifulI love courgettes (zucchinis) and put them in so many stews – though one of my fave recipes I used them for is mexicale pie, which I made last night.
I absolutely love courgette, but have never tried making a soup using it before. Looks so good.
Oh yum! This soup sounds amazing. It sounds really easy to make too, I think my children would actually eat this if I pureed the vegetables, too! Great way to get veg into the kids, hehe. Thank you for sharing.
I’ve only ever had roasted courgettes or courgetti so I’ll have to try it in soup next!
You live in such a gorgeous place. Fab soup recipe and I love the addition of basil.
SUCH a gorgeous setting! And perfect with that lovely courgette soup.
This soup sounds delicious! A terrific list of ways to use up our summer glut of courgettes, too – thanks! I picked 5 whoppers yesterday 🙂
Your soup sounds lush Elizabeth and love your photographs, so relaxing to look at:-) Thanks for including my recipe:-)
Can’t go wrong with double cream in anything! What fabulous views to enjoy while having the soup.
This sounds so delicious! I hardly ever make soup! I really must change that, going to add these ingredients to my shopping basket and make it at the weekend x