Crema de Calabacin (Cream of Zucchini Soup)

My lovely Spanish mother-in-law introduced me to this thick, delicious soup. I took her recipe and made some very small modifications to suit my own tastes. The soup is more reminiscent of a stew if you ask me, but either way, it's yummy. The first time I made it, I doubled the recipe and made a huge heaping pot which I was able to take to work for lunch everyday. You could also freeze some and defrost it in a pinch.

There are so many different variations of this soup floating around out there, from strictly creamy with fewer ingredients, to quite hardy like the one I've posted here. There's also a similar soup that uses actual squash blossoms which I'd love to try one day.

Buen provecho!

Ingredients

• 3 medium white sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 3 zucchini, cut in chunks
• 4 - 5 carrots, peeled and cut in chunks
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 3 - 5 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 leeks, cut in 3" chunks
• 2 chicken breasts, bones and skin removed
• 2 - 3 quarts low sodium chicken broth, vegetable broth, or water
• kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• dried herbs, like thyme and rosemary, to taste

1. Place the vegetables and chicken breast in a large stock pot or dutch oven. Pour in enough broth or water to just reach the top of the veggies and bring the pot to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
2. Remove the pot from the heat and ladle a bit of the liquid into a separate bowl to save for possible use later. Drain off the rest of the liquid. Puree the chicken and veggies together with a food processor, blender, or stick blender until it reaches your desired consistency. If you want to make it a little "soupier" you can introduce some of the reserved cooking liquid back into your mixture.
3. Season the soup liberally with salt and pepper until it reaches your desired taste. Do the same with some dried herbs like thyme and rosemary. Even herbes de provence would work. 
4. Spoon it into bowls and serve hot.

believe it or not, this is what a real sweet potato looks like;
the orange ones are actually yams

cube up those spuds!

start tossing everything into the pot together

your cutting job doesn't have to be perfect...

cover the veggies and chicken with liquid and crank
it up to boil



eventually it will all get soft and ready to blend



save a bit of that broth in case you want to make
your soup not quite so thick

what a mess, I know



I like my stick blender because it leaves me
less to clean...

I don't mind leaving it a little chunkier.