Chilled Courgette Soup with Goat’s Milk Yoghurt
- 1.5kg courgettes
- 200g ice cubes
- 500g cold chicken stock, if frozen it's even better
- 1 banana shallot sliced
- 1 clove of garlic crushed
- Juice and zest of one lemon
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 40g fresh large leaf spinach
- Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- Fresh lemon thyme leaves and flowers
- 2tbs goats milk yoghurt
- good olive oil
Wash the courgettes and cut them into 1/4's, remove the white soft seeds. You will end up with roughly 1kg of the green firm part and 500g of the white soft seedy interior. Keep the white parts for another recipe, however if your not too fussed then use the whole lot. I have chosen to use the firm green parts as I wanted a vibrant green colour.
Peel and finely slice the shallot and crush the garlic.
Chop the green parts in even size pieces, saute the sliced shallots, crushed garlic and courgettes in a tablespoon of olive oil, cayenne pepper and seasoning until lightly coloured, about 2 minutes at high heat. Have the ice cubes ready in a bowl along with the cold or frozen chicken stock. Scatter the sauteed courgettes onto the ice cubes to cool them rapidly.
Add the grated nutmeg, washed spinach leaves and lemon juice.
Blend the soup until smooth, I use a Thermomix which is a very powerful machine and for that reason I do not need to pass the soup however if you prefer a smooth and silky soup I recommend that you pass the soup through a fine sieve or chinoise.
Chill the soup.
Serve the chilled soup with a splash of extra virgin olive oil and a dollop of the goats milk yoghurt and garnish with the thyme leaves and flowers and a piece of the freshly baked courgette bread.
Serves 6 for a main meal