Chocolate and Zucchini

We may like to think that French women are genetically inclined to greatness in the kitchen.

Clotilde Dusoulier is proof they're not.

Really, she says, food was just fuel until she moved from Paris to San Francisco with her boyfriend. In American grocery stories, she had a revelation: All those choices! All those...possibilities!  She filled a shopping cart, bought cookbooks, tried new things.

By the time she returned to Paris, she was hooked. “Food joyously occupies a large portion of my waking thoughts --- it even makes appearances in my dreams,” she reports. And so, in 2003, she started a blog: Chocolate & Zucchini. It took off. And now her book has as well.

I can understand why. Dusoulier strikes all the right notes.

“My main focus is on fresh and seasonal ingredients,” she says.

She's relaxed: “My best food shopping strategy is just go out, choose whatever looks fresh, and figure out later what to do with it.”

Her recipes are easy to follow and solid: “tested at least three times” by readers of her blog. 

And her commentaries are charming. Did you know that, in the Middle Ages, slices of bread were used in lieu of plates?

One shockingly professional aspect of her book: The author took the pictures herself, in her apartment. “No food was harmed in the process,” she says, charmingly. What she omits: They're so terrific they make you want to cook everything --- even dishes you know you don't like.

There are many recipes here that seem too special --- too French, if you will --- for me. But there are great old favorites, like Boeuf Bourguignon and lemon butter cookiess. And there are many others that, though novel, seem like great ideas: mushroom-and-Cantal cheese spread, two-olive tapenade.

What recipe to select? A no-brainer. Dusoulier choose the name for her blog in honor of her two loves: decadent chocolate, utilitarian zucchini. Decadence is for Saturday night; utility is what's needed tonight. So.....

Sesame Zucchini Soup

Serves 4

5 medium zucchini
one medium potato
one onion
one shallot
one garlic clove
two cups of chicken stock (or two cups of water and half a bouillon cube)
two heaping tablespoons of tahini (sesame paste)
one tablespoon of sesame seeds (mix black and blond for a pretty effect)
olive oil
salt, pepper, chili powder

Peel and chop the onion, shallot and garlic. In a large saucepan, heat a few splashes of olive oil, then cook the onion, shallot and garlic for five minutes, over medium heat, until they get a little translucent.

In the meantime, toast the sesame seeds in a dry skillet until golden and fragrant. Transfer to a small bowl.

Wash the zucchini and trim their ends. Wash the potato and peel it. Slice them (by hand or in the food processor). Add them to the saucepan, along with two cups of stock and a bit of salt. Cover, bring to a simmer and let cook for twenty minutes or until the veggies are cooked, stirring now and then, just because you can't help but peek. Remove from heat.

Remove a cup of the cooking liquid from the saucepan and reserve in a bowl. Transfer the solids into the food processor (or only part if you enjoy chunky soup like I do), and puree. Return the puree into the saucepan and stir. Depending on the zucchini you used, the soup may be liquid enough at this point, or you may want to add some of the liquid you set aside.

Put the saucepan back over low heat, add tahini, pepper and chili powder, and stir to combine. Taste, and adjust the seasoning. Pour the soup in bowls, sprinkle the surface with toasted sesame seeds, and serve with sesame crackers.

--- Jesse Kornbluth, for HeadButler.com

To buy “Chocolate and Zucchini” from Amazon.com, click here.

To go to the Chocolate and Zucchini web site, click here.

Copyright 2007 by Head Butler Inc.