Noni's Zucchini Soup

I'm paying long overdue homage to my grandmother, Giuseppina (Sorletti) Sciarrone, by publishing her zucchini soup recipe. This is my all-time favorite soup recipe, though, as a child, I absolutely hated this soup and refused to eat it, which infuriated my grandmother. Infuriated is an understatement...

Like many women of her time, being an excellent cook was a big part of her identity. The fact that this little kid hated the taste of her soup soooo much that she would rather bear the wrath of Noni than eat the soup told her just how bad I thought it was! Very lucky for me she did not speak English and I did not understand Italian.

My older brother came to my rescue and offered to eat my portion of soup in addition to his own serving. This lessened my grandmother's anger toward me--ever so slightly--and for that I am truly grateful.

Perhaps I should call it Ironic Soup. The fact is I remembered that soup forever. As I grew older--much older with grown children of my own--I remembered the taste of the soup and the smell of the kitchen while it cooked. I missed it! More than that, I craved it, but had no idea how to make it.

My grandmother was long gone when I finally got up the nerve to ask my aunt for the recipe. My aunt never married and lived with her mother until her mother died. She was privy to all the recipes, family secrets, and all the other good stuff that comes from a strong child/mother relationship that lasts well into adulthood.

So here is that recipe. My grandmother raised 7 children through The Great Depression. She and my grandfather migrated to America in the early 1900's and never learned much English. My grandfather was a coal miner in the Schuylkill County region of Pennsylvania and money was always tight. Many of the recipes my grandmother made had few ingredients, but were extremely flavorful. There was never a need to tweak her recipes. But if you do, just remember the best part of this recipe is the bursting with flavor simplicity.