A Conversation with the Chef: Summer Soup

 

The colors shout summer and who wouldn't love food that comes in colors like these? True, the youngest among us skipped the soup and made a supper of his blueberry muffin. I love this Summer Squash Soup. I love the color and the texture and the flavor. Using homemade broth from the freezer, squash from the roadside stand, basics from the pantry, and two willing helpers it is a frugal, easy dinner. Frugal except for the mint pistou, which I adore. But I can't grow mint in my yard (why?! it's a weed!) and standing before the $3 package of mint in the produce department, I couldn't bring myself to spend that much on pistou. I do have basil, and more basil, so why not something like a pesto, sans nuts? Oh, so good; only next time I need to double the soup.

He took his own picture of his masterpiece.

Just as I was finishing the blueberry muffins, there was a knocking on the back door. Outside was the youngest chef, mud-pie-in-a-frisbee in hand. He tried to angle around me, mentioning that it just needed to be baked in the oven. Can you imagine? I diverted him to a sunny spot on the back patio and considering the heat, I'm sure that pie will be cooked solid in no time.