I love this soup recipe. It is especially fun when I do my “green” St. Patrick’s Day dinner. It is a nice flavored soup and even some of my picky ones will eat this one. It’s a fairly quick and easy one to make, too.
Here’s the cast of characters for this soup:
First, slice your onions.
Melt your butter in your soup pan.
Add your onions to the melted butter and saute until clear and tender.
While the onions are cooking, wash your zucchini and trim the top and bottom off. Slice your zucchini. I like to use the mandolin slicer because it gets them a little more uniform and thin….and it is fast when slicing so many. 
I like to slice mine fairly thin so they cook faster. Have you figured out that I’m an impatient cooker yet?
Stir your onions off and on while slicing zucchini. Can you see how they are clear now? This means they are ready for you to add the broth and zucchini to the pot.
Like so. Can you see how the zucchini is fairly white and solid looking? Keep your eye on the zucchini. When it turns clear then you know it is ready for the next step.
It takes about 10 or 15 minutes. You can see in the top right one zucchini that isn’t quite as cooked as the rest.
Here’s a little closer view. I’m hoping you can see how the onions and zucchini are clear and soft. If you get impatient and don’t let them get quite as cooked, then you have chunky soup. Not that I’ve done that before. More than once. Because I’m impatient.
Once the veggie’s are soft, then you want to blend it. I have done this in my blender one or two cups at a time. You can only do a small amount and you have to be careful because when you turn your blender on, it will explode and shoot hot zucchini stuff everywhere and you will burn your hands. Not that I’ve done that before. More than once. Because I’m impatient. It’s messy, trust me. Yet, it is the way I had to do it before I got an immersion blender, which happens to be my favorite way of blending most things. It is one of my favorite kitchen inventions. It is so simple and I don’t have to mess up more dishes. I used to have to mess up a bowl to pour the soup in, then the blender, then back to the pot. That’s TWO extra dishes to wash. NO likey. Immersion Blender. Get one. You’ll be happy you did. It’s is also a great whipper of cream. Yet, I digress…….
Here are the seasonings and spices. I think the recipe said to put them in before you blend, but I got excited to use my immersion blender, so I just added them after. And you can probably tell that I didn’t measure the pepper or the salt. I’m that way. I just throw a little in, then keep adjusting until it has the flavor I want.
After the seasonings are in, add the half and half. You don’t want the soup on high heat after you blend. You just want to keep it at a low temperature. Especially when you add cream, half and half, or milk. By the way, you can substitute any of these if you don’t have half and half. I’ve done that before, as well. I do prefer the flavor with the half and half the best.
Cream is all mixed in. Isn’t is pretty. It is a nice light green color. Taste it and adjust your salt and seasonings.
Put it in your bowls and sprinkle with cheese. Oh, the cheese makes it yummy!!! Once it melts, it returns to it’s joyful light green color. If you are serving it for St. Patty’s Day, and want it a little more green, I suppose you could add some food coloring to it. Frankly, I had so much green stuff I worried about my family’s skin turning green.
Enjoy this yummy soup!! PS. Gable House used to be a really nice restaurant in town that had delicious food. But the good old days are gone. I can’t even remember who gave me this recipe, but I’ve had it for a LONG time. It’s still a favorite around here!
Here’s the full recipe
Gable House Zucchini Bisque
2 medium onions
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 1/2 pounds zucchini
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1/3 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch cayenne pepper, optional
Grated cheddar cheese
Chop and cook onions in butter until clear and soft, but not browned. Wash and slice zucchini. Combine onion, zucchini, and chicken broth in heavy saucepan and bring to boil. Simmer for 15 minutes or until squash is tender. Add seasonings and put mixture into blender to puree until smooth. (I put blended mixture in a bowl until all is blended, then put back in pan. Or use and immersion blender.) Add half and half, adjust seasonings to taste. Reheat, but do not boil. Serve immediately with grated cheese. Serves 6-8.