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Puréed Zucchini Soup with Basil Oil and Ricotta

A pureed zucchini soup flavored with basil oil, ricotta, and lemon.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Basil and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,820 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

The recipe

Timeabout 10 minutes

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Make the basil oil

  1. Blanch basil leaves in a small pan of boiling water for about 30 seconds.

  2. Transfer basil leaves to a colander and rinse with cold water.

  3. Squeeze the basil leaves.

  4. Put the basil leaves in a food processor.

  5. Add olive oil and process until puréed.

  6. Pour the basil oil into a small bowl.

Make the soup

  1. Warm oil in a large pot over medium heat.

  2. Add shallots and celery; cook, stirring often, until vegetables begin to soften, 3 or 4 minutes.

  3. Add garlic, zucchini, cinnamon, salt, and pepper to taste.

  4. Cook, stirring occasionally, until zucchini begins to soften, 2 to 4 minutes.

  5. Add stock, increase heat to high and bring to a boil.

  6. Reduce heat to medium, and cook until vegetables are very tender, about 10 minutes.

  7. Put soup in a food processor and purée until smooth.

  8. Return to pot; add lemon juice, and add extra pepper if needed.

Serve

  1. In a small bowl, mix ricotta with just enough milk to thin to consistency of yogurt.

  2. Ladle soup into serving bowls.

  3. Top with a dollop of ricotta mixture, and drizzle with 1 teaspoon basil oil or more as desired.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Basil + lemontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,820 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Pepper + lemontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,039 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Celery + lemontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Basil + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,292 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together23,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Zucchini
Forms the bulk of the soup and, puréed, gives it body and a tender, smooth texture.
Vegetable stock
Provides the liquid that carries the cooked vegetables and turns them into a soup.
Ricotta
Adds creamy richness and a cool, mild contrast to the warm soup.
Extra virgin olive oil
Carries flavor and adds fat for a smooth mouthfeel in both the basil oil and the soup.
Basil leaves
Supply the fresh, aromatic herb flavor of the oil that finishes the dish.
Shallots
Soften slowly in oil to build a sweet, savory base for the soup.

The step that matters

Blanching the basil. Blanching for only about 30 seconds and then cooling the leaves helps them keep a bright green color. Longer heat breaks down chlorophyll and turns the oil dull and olive-brown.

Flavor stand-ins for the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (basil, olive, celery, garlic, cinnamon, pepper, lemon):

  1. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  3. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against basil, olive, celery, garlic, cinnamon, pepper, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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