Squash Bisque

Some people hoard stuff; I hoard recipes. I will rip them out here and there along the way, filing them in a big old box that I keep in my living room. Now and again I'll browse through it and set aside a few I'd like to try. This particular recipe never even made it to the box. I LOVE zucchini, and I knew I'd be using this squash bisque recipe quite soon.

It still took me a few weeks to get around to it, but today was the perfect time. I got a bunch of squash (on sale this week at FreshDirect! I paid 3.43 for a total of 5 squash, and I didn't even use them all) delivered this morning, so I unpacked it, washed it, and got to cutting. This recipe also gave me an excuse to use one of my favorite toys..I mean tools. Sara and her boyfriend gave me the Williams-Sonoma chopper for my last birthday, and man have I put some miles on this one! Allow me to demonstrate with a creatively-shot video (Hey, it's hard shooting when you're cooking solo! I did several tries using one hand, the other holding the camera, before getting a little more creative..):

The chopper made quick, perfect, precisely-diced work of 5 zucchini in, oh, about 30 seconds. In a word: AAAAAAAAAAWESOME!!!

Once I finished playing with my chopper, I realized I had wayyyyy more zucchini than I needed for this recipe. I set some aside after a few minutes of sautéing, and kept cooking the rest. While the zucchini cooks quite quickly, I have agree with the author of the NYT post on this recipe: the zucchini doesn't really brown! Once you can really smell the zucchini, it's done. I halved the recipe and sort of fudged my way along (more fractions!) and I think it all turned out quite nicely.
I also used white pepper instead of black--it's one of my favorite ways to spike the flavor in a dish. I also didn't purée the soup as much as I could have, so it really felt more like a 'chowder' than a bisque, which was just fine with me! I like my soup to have some heartiness to it. I want to feel like I'm EATING something, not just 'drinking' my food. I also took some of the zucchini I reserved earlier, while it still had some crunch to it, and put some of that on top of the finished dish. I also added a few dices of red pepper just for color, but I didn't care for the bite this had when mixed with the mellowness of the zucchini. Looks pretty, but I'll skip it next time around! Also, don't let the cream content freak you out: it's 1/3 of a cup for a good 6 hearty servings--you're only getting a few tablespoons. This dish was suprisingly light and refreshing. I didn't feel heavy or too full after eating it. And I have plenty of leftovers for the days ahead. Excelsior!!