Courgette, Ginger and Orange Soup

 This week, doing our bit to support local producers, as well as doing the whole 'organic' thing, we at Soup Towers signed up to get a vegetable box delivered each week.  I like the whole 'pot-luck' aspect of getting one of these boxes of produce, but it does make for an interesting experience of conjuring up a new soup every week...

For instance, this week, in the box, we got broad beans (which went into a risotto with some bacon and chorizo), onions and new potatoes (which made a fine accompaniment to some pork steaks and caramelised apples) and some locally sourced butter (Lemon drizzle cake!) which just left come fine looking courgettes, which meant that I had to make, you guessed it, courgette soup.

So I tried to make it both summery (because, well... it's at least meant to be summer) and healthy (as in - no bacon, black pudding or random bits of offal) because yet again, disease is stalking Soup Towers in the form of a rather nasty summer cold that Mrs Soup picked up at the weekend whilst *shudder* glamping...

So here is what I came up with, a citrusy and creamy, light courgette soup, hopefully packed with enough vitamin C to clear off the most virulent of summer colds...



Ingredients
5 Large Courgettes
1 Onion
2 Stalks Celery
1 Leek
2 Cloves of Garlic
Thumb sized piece of Ginger
1.2l Vegetable Stock
150ml Single Cream
1 Orange (Juice and Zest)

Method
1.  Roughly chop the onion, celery and leek (using only the white bits)

2.  In your soup pan, heat some butter or oil and sweat the vegetables, along with the garlic, for about 5 minutes, but don't let them colour. 

3. Add the stock to the pan, and then the chopped courgettes, juice and zest of an orange and the ginger, cut into slices that are about coin sized.

4.  Bring the pan to the simmer and cook for 30 minutes.

5.  Allow the soup to cool and then puree in a food processor, passing through a sieve afterwards to remove any pesky lumps

6.  Add the cream, check seasoning and then heat through before serving. Enjoy!