Beatles and Happiness soup

It's raining.  No, it is in fact pouring.....So, Check this out:  Ringo Star and the Beatles:  Ringo the inventor of "spin".  Wow, who knew?!  Worth a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlpMs_R3P6U


I have an excess of yellow zuchinni in the garden.  What to do?  Make Happiness Soup - it's good.  Very good.  Especially, on a wet raining Summer day.  I haven't made this soup since my Nigella Lawson phase of cooking circa when I lived in Martinborough, seven years ago. Mainly, because I haven't grown yellow zuchinni.  Having recently rediscovered the Forever Summer Cookbook, I'm been making a few things from it this Summer.  This is how Happiness Soup  looks in Nigella Lawson's Forever Summer Cookbook:

Here is her recipe:

SOUP

Forgive the tweeness of the title, but this is a soup of such sunny, mood-enhancing yellowness that it overcomes even the most pervasively innate cynicism. To eat this is to feel cheered; even cooking it gives me a lift. It's incredibly easy to make, but that's not the clincher. This golden broth, rice-thickened and studded with a confetti dice of yellow courgettes and sprightly with lemon is pure joy. You only have to see it to believe it. And not surprisingly in some Middle-Eastern cultures, it is believed, in Claudia Roden's words, that 'eating yellow foods will result in laughter and happiness'. This, then, is a yellow soup to banish the blues.
   

Ingredients

500g yellow courgettes (2 large)

• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
• 100g basmati rice
• Maldon salt and pepper

Method

Serves: 4-6.

1. Cut the courgettes - wash them by all means if you want, but don't bother to peel them - into 5mm rings, and then finely dice them. Put them into a pan with the lemon zest and oil, stir to coat, then cook on a gentle heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they've slightly softened.
2. Stir in the turmeric and pour in the stock and lemon juice and then drop in the rice. And for the stock here, as usual I make up some bouillon concentrate with water; you could use vegetable stock if you prefer, but I love the mellow goldenness you get from chicken.
3. Cook, uncovered, for 10-20 minutes, or just until the courgettes and rice are tender. Taste for seasoning.
4. Leave to cool slightly before serving so that you eat the soup warm rather than hot.