Creamy Zucchini, Garlic & Chive Soup - or Zucchinicremesuppe - Austrian Style

Before I visited Vienna, the last thing I would have associated with the schnitzel-loving city was,  of all things, excellent  vegetable soups.  But in restaurant after restaurant, I had some of the best cream soups of my life, from karotten (carrot) to knoblauch (garlic) to brokkoli to zucchini.



All of these soups featured the vegetable in question prominently, but they also all had a strong garlic note that was always well balanced by the copious amounts of sweet heavy cream. Given the time of year we were there (March) I suspect many soups also contained barlauch, that curious chive-like plant that Poppa Trix and I tried in the Vienna Woods after we saw locals picking it:





Sadly there's no barlauch in Baltimore, so for my Austrian-style zucchinicremesuppe I went with chives to try to recreate some of that wild chive-y onion-y flavor, and rather than cream, I used Middle Eastern labne - sort of a cross between sour cream and yogurt. To balance out the garlic, I threw in a few new potatoes and a squeeze or two of lemon, for brightness, and I served it with a dollop of creme fraiche. The result was a lighter, more summer-y version of those luscious Viennese soups - and there was absolutely no sacrifice in flavor.