Zucchini Basil Soup with Zucchini Fritters

It doesn't matter what kind of day I have, coming home to these kinds of meals can cure just about any foul mood. Bad day today gets erased by magnificent evening tonight. As I was eating I thought to myself, if I had bad days like this and had nothing to come home to, then and only then, I could justify complaining about my bad day. Otherwise, I have absolutely nothing to complain about.


My husband made a beautiful zucchini and basil soup, so rich and flavourful. I love cream based soups, but they don't always love me. The wonderful thing about this recipe is that it feels like you're eating a cream soup, but you're not.


The smell of the fritters was filling the house and by the time I finally sat down to eat I was famished. If you can eat these fritter directly off the grill, do it! The taste and texture are so much better. They're still great even after sitting for a bit in the oven (while the others cook) but do yourself a favour and savour one off the grill. My husband followed the recipe below for these tasty treats using the flour and corn meal but also added corn to them from leftover corn on the cob, which pops lightly in your mouth when eaten immediately. A dollop of tzatziki accompanied this dish nicely. It was very difficult to stop eating them when I was full. The good news? I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to escape the hectic work day and build up my anti-stress endorphins with each bite!

Zucchini Basil Soup

What you’ll need
4 zucchini, trimmed and cut
one chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cups of chicken stock
1/2 cup packed basil leaves

What to do
Julienne skin from half of a zucchini with slicer; toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt and drain in a sieve until wilted, at least 20 minutes. Coarsely chop remaining zucchini.

Cook onion and garlic in oil in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add chopped zucchini and 1 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Add stock and simmer partially covered until tender, about 15 minutes. Purée soup with basil in 2 batches in a blender.

Season soup with salt and pepper. Serve in shallow bowls with julienned zucchini mounded on top.

Zucchini Fritters

What you’ll need
4 medium zucchinis
3 small - medium russet potatoes
1 small - medium yellow onion
2 eggs
1/3 cup quinoa flour (or all-purpose flour)
1/3 cup sweet rice flour (or all-purpose flour)
1/3 cup masa (or corn meal)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

tzatziki sauce or sour cream for topping

What to do
Cut the tops and bottoms off of 4 zucchinis. Using the grater attachment, run the zucchinis through a food processor (or grate by hand). Peel and grate 3 russet potatoes and 1 yellow onion. Remove zucchinis, potatoes, and onion from processor, and squeeze well before placing in a large bowl. You want to get as much water out as you can so your batter isn't soupy.

To the zucchini/potato/onion mixture, add 2 eggs, 1/3 cup quinoa flour, 1/3 cup sweet rice flour, masa, salt, and pepper. Mix together thoroughly (I use my hands).

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed skillet on medium-high heat (about 1 cup of oil). Take about 1/3 - 1/2 a cup of dough in your hand and shape into a flat disk. Working in batches, fry latkes on one side until edges begin to turn brown, and cakes are cooked halfway through, 5-10 minutes. Flip cakes and fry another 3-5 minutes, until bottom is browned. Remove from oil and drain on a paper towel. Repeat until all the dough is used up. While you make the other batches, you can keep already made latkes warm by placing them on a cookie sheet in a warm oven (about 200 degrees).

Top with tzatziki or sour cream. Enjoy!

This recipe, with step by step pictures, can be found at this blog.