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Active Time
1 hr
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Total Time
5 1/2 hrs
Ingredients
Makes about 8 1/2 cups
Special Equipment
Step 1
Thinly julienne zucchini lengthwise with slicer, working around core, into 1/4-inch-thick ribbons. Cut zucchini cores into 1/2-inch pieces.
Step 2
Peel potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch pieces. Cook onion in butter in a 5-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add potatoes, garlic, and saffron and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add broth, bay leaf, and thyme and simmer, uncovered, until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Add chopped zucchini cores and simmer, uncovered, until zucchini is very tender, about 8 minutes.
Step 3
Purée soup in batches in a blender until very smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids) and pour through a fine sieve into a bowl. Stir in cream, lemon juice, salt, and pepper, then cool to room temperature, uncovered. Chill soup, covered, until cold, at least 4 hours and up to 2 days.
Step 4
While soup is chilling, cook julienned zucchini in boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 30 seconds, then drain and transfer to a bowl of ice and cold water. Drain and pat dry with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper and chill, covered.
Step 5
Before serving soup, cut each scallop horizontally into 3 rounds and pat dry. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking, then sear scallops until golden brown, 20 to 30 seconds on each side, and season with salt.
Step 6
Serve soup with zucchini mounded in center, topped with scallop rounds.
·Julienned zucchini can be cooked 2 days ahead and chilled, covered.
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Reviews (17)
Back to Toptripled the recipe for christmas eve dinner for 24 foodies. easy to make and what a beautiful presentation! rave reviews from all!
pastagirl19
dayton, oh
12/31/2010
PS -- it's better room temperature or a little warm, and drizzle some truffle oil over it to really bring the recipe over the top!
kkotcher
San Diego
8/17/2010
壮观的味道和演示。我没有a mandolin so cut the julienne strips by hand. One time saving tip: julienne the outer part of only about half of the zucchini, that's all you'll need. With the rest, just peel and discard.
kkotcher
San Diego
8/17/2010
Good, not superb. Made it exactly as stated. Would have preferred a slightly more pronounced saffron flavor. However it was very pretty.
Anonymous
8/16/2010
This soup was really outstanding. Not only did it taste fantastic, but it looked absolutely gorgeous too. I didn't find this to be very time consuming. The only thing that really took up a lot of time was preparing the zucchini garnish because I don't have the tool for it - but even so, it wasn't too long. If I were to make it again, I probably wouldn't even bother with the zucchini garnish. My boyfriend said this was one of the best soups he'd ever tasted. I'd definitely make this again.
Anonymous
Montreal, Quebec
3/15/2010
Fantastic soup. No possibility of acquiring scallops in Budapest, but the soup stands on its own. Really delicious.
hollanerno
Budapest
7/28/2009
I just had to sign into epicurious to say how *wonderful* this recipe is. As previous reviewers have said, it provides a complex yet subtle, unique combination of flavors. I served the soup to a friend at his house and all he seemed to want to know is whether I'd leave him the leftovers :-) Being the kind of cook who glances over a recipe's ingredients and does her own thing, I added a pair of leeks to the sauté. And I used fish stock instead of chicken. Maybe one day I'll follow the recipe à la lettre. Meanwhile, what a source of inspiration.
Dana_in_Paris
Paris, France
7/5/2009
maybe cold soup is not for me... however, this was time consuming for a very disapointing result. the only thing i liked were the scallops
daniguinha
la, ca
6/17/2009
The soup is excellent warm or cold. We brushed he scallops with truffled honey and they were over the top.
aragon17
Princeton, New Jersey
9/16/2008
This soup is amazing! Served it to unwilling veggie eaters of all ages and they all loved it. I used red potatoes b/c i had them in and the texture of this soup was like velvet. Don't need the zucchini garnish, just beautiful fresh scallops.
alavelle1
Cumming, GA
8/1/2008
This is divine! I prepared it exactly from the recipe, and would willingly serve both hot or cold. A show stopper!
leskennedy
1/13/2008
This was a great recipe for entertaining since most of it can be made the night before. It was very good!!
marisafend
Granite Bay, C a
9/11/2007
I've made this three or four times to rave reviews every time. Very subtle, complex flavors. I use some extra seared scallops. They really enhances the dish.
rforsberg
Methuen, MA
7/27/2007
I was going to half the recipe, so i started out with half the ingredients... then somewhere along the line I forgot about reducing the amounts, so used the original amount for the second part of the ingredient list...still, it turned out great: velvety, smooth, very flavourful. Frankly, I never quite understood why Vichyssoise is meant to be served cold -I think it would be make a lovely warm soup as well.
poopiedog
Toronto
6/5/2006
This soup was delicious!!!! I substituted the scallops for shrimp (just because I didn't have scallops on hand), added a touch of cayenne pepper and had it hot instead of cold.
Anonymous
Colorado
2/13/2005
