Creamy Zucchini-Corn Soup Recipe

I bought a huge zucchini for 50 cents and with a bag of frozen corn and half an onion made this quick fat-free recipe--no butter, oil, or cream yet tasting creamy and great. From The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook (2000).

Creamy Corn-and-Zucchini Soup (10 servings; recipe can be halved)

6 cups chicken broth
2 cups diced zucchini (about 2 large)
1/2 cup chopped onion
6 cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
3/4 teaspoon salt (if the chicken broth isn't salted already)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
hot pepper sauce (red) (optional)

1. Bring broth to simmer in a large saucepan. Add zucchini and onion; cover and simer 2 minutes. Stir in corn, salt, and pepper, cover, and simmer 2 minutes. Cool slightly.
2. Put three cups at a time of the liquid in a blender and puree.
3. Reheat. Serve with optional hot sauce.

The Best Zucchini Recipe

This side dish looks and tastes so good you'll be sneaking bites out of the pan before it gets to the table. I used orange and red bell pepper. This strangely sexy dish makes a great side but also a wonderful pasta or pizza topping. Chili oil can be homemade by putting several whole dried red chili peppers into a bottle of olive oil.

Chinese Charred Peppers and Zucchini

2 cups of zucchini, chopped into large dice
1-1/2 to 2 cups of red, orange, or yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 tablepoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons wine vinegar
1 teaspoon chili oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon sugar
salt

Chop zucchini in chunks and place in a bowl with a half-teaspoon of salt; toss. Let this mixture sit for 30 minutes to an hour. Then rinse, drain and pat dry. It's important that it not be wet.

In the meantime, make the sauce by mixing the soy sauce, wine vinegar, a 1/2 teaspoon of  the chili oil, and sugar in a small bowl.

Heat 1/2 teaspoon of the chili oil in a skillet on medium-high heat until it smokes. Dump the zucchini and pepper chunks into the pan, stir, spread them around and cook for 5 minutes, stirring and pressing down with a spatula now and then so most pieces get scorched a nice brown. If it's going too fast, turn down the heat. Then turn off the heat. Stand back and pour the sauce over the vegetables. It will bubble and simmer until it's absorbed. Good eaten warm or at room temperature.

Summer on the Counter

Fresh-picked arugula, fresh-made pesto with olive oil and a touch of lemon juice, cheese sauce, fabulous heirloom tomato. Smells as good as it looks. It will taste even better.