Food I'm Eating: Creamy zucchini soup for summer

 If you find yourself with an oversized zucchini that somehow got missed when picking fruits and vegetables from your summer garden, or even if you simply have too many normal-sized zucchini or other summer squash, here's a good alternative to zucchini bread as an excess zucchini mop (adapted from Tamar Adler's excellent "The Everlasting Meal Cookbook," which I recommend – it's a cookbook you'll actually use.

Ingredients (in my version) are: zucchini, an onion, king trumpet (or other) mushrooms, a peeled potato, olive oil and/or butter, vegetable stock, finely chopped fresh dill, salt, and half and half. 

In an appropriately sized soup pot, heat the oil/butter (I like to use a little of each) and add the onion, chopped with a little salt. Stir as the onion cooks until it is tender and beginning to show a hint of color (about 10 minutes). At the same time, in a separate pan, sauté the mushrooms until golden. Next add the zucchini and potato, chopped, but not too finely, to the soup pot, add the cooked mushrooms, and then add the vegetable stock (about a quart, more or less, depending on how much zucchini, potato, and mushroom you have). Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are tender (another 15-20 minutes). Turn off the heat and let the pot rest until the liquid has cooled a little. Add the dill. At this stage, the soup can be put in a blender to smooth into a puree, but I like it just as it is with the coarsely chopped vegetable and the mushrooms in pieces. Add the half and half (about half a cup; the original recipe calls for heavy cream, but half and half makes it plenty creamy in my experience). Adjust salt to taste. Enjoy hot – or enjoy it cold later. It's delicious either way.