Zucchini Soup {Koosa Soup}

ALERT.  This. tastes. so. good!  And Ayla, my 2 year old loved it and we all know how she's a little food snob!  Don't try to feed her something that doesn't taste amazing or any leftovers.  Sigh.

So it's been a little chilly in Southern California, you know 60 degrees haha.  Sorry, everyone living in cold places :) There was light drizzle the other day and its as if I iimmedietly forgot that I was raised in New Jersey and my body is supposed to be able to handle all types of cold weather conditions being that I dealt with rain, snow and freezing weather.  But nope, my body pretended it was the first time experiencing rain and I immediately pulled out my umbrella, winter jacket, boots, forgot how to drive in the rain, and made soup.  It actually felt quite nice and cozy! 

Every time I make another dish from my childhood I am amazed at how healthy and well rounded the dishes are.  The core of every dish is vegetables, vegetables and more vegetables.  And this is no exception.  Zucchini and eggplant might be tied in Middle Eastern cuisine as the most commonly used vegetable.  Let me know if there is another one.  We do so much with zucchini, most famously core it and stuff it with rice and meat and cook it in a tomato broth called Koosa Mahshi which translates to stuffed zucchini, so original right haha.  Among the many things we make with zucchini, this might be one of my favorites even though I'm not really a soup kinda girl.  But the flavor of the zucchini as it caramelizes with the onions and simmers in the chicken stock is just so good!  My mom never made it with chicken but I happened to have some cooked chicken so I threw it in there at the end and it automatically made the dish dinner worthy.  

I didn't intend for the milk drizzle to look like a strange looking Pac Man, but hey, art at its finest :) 

INGREDIENTS

2 Zucchini cut

1 diced onion

1 tablespoon butter

2 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup Milk or Heavy Cream

Flour (Optional as a thickener)

Cooked chicken, ex. rotisserie, grilled chicken etc (Optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

Sautee onions in butter until translusent

Add zucchini and reduce heat

Let them sit for a 5 -7 minutes on low heat until zucchini is tender

Add chicken stock

Bring to a boil

Do not cover because it will change the color of the zucchini

Reduce heat and let it boil for 10 minutes

Add milk and let it boil uncovered on low heat for another 10 minutes

If it is too watery and you like a thicker consistency, mix 1 tablespoon of flour with a few drops of water and mix into a paste like form and add it into the soup and let it boil for another 5 minutes

Use blender to blend it all together into soup like consistency

Optional ** Add cooked chicken

Muhammara & Cauliflower Soup

I obviously love Muhammara and judging from the past few post and Instagram photos, I obviously love cauliflower.  Not sure what my thought process was that led me to come up with this genius idea :)  I do know that the idea simmered in my mind for a few days before I actually executed.  The stars aligned a few days ago and the universe was basically forcing me to make this soup.  I had preordered a book called Soup for Syria,  a humanitarian cookbook project whose profits will be donated to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR to provide urgently needed food relief for Syrian refugees, which arrived that day.  I also caught the first glimpse of fall which for Southern California included 10 minutes of drizzle and some clouds, but it was enough for me to jump on the opportunity to make this soup.

Muhammara is a red pepper spread which originates in Aleppo, Syria.  It's made from roasted red peppers, walnuts, and sautéed cumin.  Traditionally it is only used as a dip but I literally with no exaggeration use it almost every day for everything.  Most often, I use it as a paste to thicken and add flavor to any sauce slash soup I'm making.  

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoons of Muhammara 
• 2 cups baked cauliflower
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 small onion sliced
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350
• Drizzle olive oil, salt & pepper on cauliflower and bake for 10 minutes or so
• On stovetop medium heat sauté sliced onion in olive oil to caramelize
• Add chicken stock and muhammara to chicken stock
• Add baked cauliflower to chicken stock for a few minutes so flavors can simmer together 
• Add everything to blender and blend until desired consistency
• Optional: Serve with pita chips and spoon of muhammara

INSTRUTIONS TO MAKE PITA CHIPS

• Preheat oven to 350
• Cut pita bread into desired shape
• Drizzle with olive oil and whatever seasoning (I did just salt and pepper)
• Put in oven for 5 minutes
• Monitor carefully remove when golden brown

INSTRUCTIONS TO MAKE MUHAMMARA in case our store is out of stock =(

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons tahini
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 3 red bell peppers
• 1/2 small yellow onion
• 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
• 1 tablespoon Chili paste or Chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS

• Roast the red peppers on the stove top until skin starts to peel off
• Roast the walnuts in the oven at 350 until they are golden brown
• Pulse walnuts in food processor until they are desired size (some like it bigger for more crunch, some like it finer) set aside
• Add all ingredients to the food processor and pulse
• Add walnuts at the end
• Keep in the fridge for up to a week