Raw Zucchini Lemon Soup

This is a great recipe to share in the throes of summer zucchini season. I think most of you can understand what that means if you've ever had a garden or you have a close friend with one. Actually I can't help but pick up more zucchini every time I go to the farmer's market in town. Using real, local, fresh produce will yield wonderful results whenever you want great tasting food.

I really love zucchini and there are so many ways to prepare it. Here I present to you a raw recipe that is refreshing and very nice to serve chilled. Easy to whip up, literally, all you do is to puree the raw ingredients together and you are done. If you use chilled water and cold ingredients, you will not need to chill further.

I love using my Vitamix blender for this...it makes easy work of grinding up the spices and chunks of vegetables at the same time. I found this recipe on a "Chef Mary B" DVD that I borrowed from the local library. She calls it Zucchini Lemon Bisque.

Raw Zucchini Lemon Soup

Combine in a blender:

7 cups zucchini, peeled & chopped
1 cup cold water
1/2 cup lemon juice (or 2 lemons, juiced)
1/2 cup olive oil, extra virgin (or less)
2-3 cloves garlic (use only 1 for mild)
1 Tablespoon onion, dried, granulated (or 1 small onion)
1 Tablespoon agave nectar (or 1 teaspoon honey)
1 Tablespoon sea salt (or seasoned salt instead)
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder (or whole cumin seeds)
pinch black pepper (6 whole black peppercorns)

Puree all in the blender. Garnish with fresh dill, after serving into bowls.

Makes about 6 cups pureed soup.