We've been eating a lot of squash this year. Our CSA has been giving us one a week (sometimes more) since August, and Paul magically grew a couple in our garden (we think they must have been planted by the previous owner because they just appeared). I've done grilled squash, an awful lot of roasted squash, and a squash soup with thai curry and coconut milk. But there's still a lot more squash downstairs, so I was happy to see this recipe for a different take on squash soup.
I roasted the squash on Sunday and the soup was relatively easy to finish on a weeknight. I followed the recipe exactly, using butternut squash (I certainly wasn't going to go out and buy a different variety of squash!) and some pressure cooker homemade chicken stock that I made last week and froze in portions. I tasted the soup when it was finished and didn't think it needed cream (I also didn't want the extra calories after having been away at a conference last week...) but I also wanted Paul to like it so I let him decide. He - to my surprise - also didn't think it needed cream, so we ate it as is. I did finish it with some toasted pumpkin seeds. I really liked the crunch, since the soup itself was so smooth.
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| Finished soup |
We enjoyed this soup a lot. As I mentioned last week I was worried about adding the fennel, but I added a relatively small bulb and actually kind of enjoyed it. We thought it's flavor was very subtle. I asked Paul to guess what was in the soup - this is one of our favorite dinner-time games, we're suck dorks! - and he couldn't really tell at all. He got the butternut squash and chicken stock (mainly because he saw those!) but didn't guess the squash, pears, or any of the other ingredients.
As soon as I served the soup I took out our camera to take a photo, but the camera promptly died on me. We were too hungry to wait for the camera to charge, so we just ate our dinner and I photographed our leftovers. This soup made enough for lunch the next day, and also for me to freeze some. My downstairs freezer is getting pretty full, but I love having food already prepared.
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| Soup for lunch |
I also had some tomatoes and arugula I wanted to use up, and I was tired of the same arugula salad, so I made an arugula provencal recipe (
New Basics, Rosso and Lukins) and served it over bread. It didn't really go with the soup at all, but it did taste good!
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| Arugula provencal |
Sorry to hear about your camera dying. Your photos look tasty.
ReplyDeletethe camera is back, now i just need to work on my photography skills!
ReplyDeleteOOOH! So you have a magical garden!! :) How nice...! Oh and I love the color of this soup, even if I didn't like it! It's so perfectly fall!
ReplyDeleteWasn't this soup great! I served mine naked, but I like the way the pumpkin seeds look on top.
ReplyDeleteI'm envious of the abundance of squash! I have been hoarding them so I have good squash to last me a while!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you the smooth texture of this soup doesn't need enrichment from cream. Ready-to-eat meals in the freezer are so convenient!
I am sure the texture of the seeds added a nice crunch.
ReplyDeleteSquash is a wonderful CSA treasure - fortunately, it freezes well for year long enjoyment (of course, if you have the room for it).
We really like this soup...way more than I expected we would. I've been into pumpkin and squash this year more than ever and we are all really enjoying this produce in a wide variety of recipes...and we love them all. I used to need chocolate every day...kinda still do, but now I seem to need something from the squash family. Maybe after Thanksgiving I'll get into something else. Enjoyed your post. Have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy more squash.
ReplyDeleteWow, I really like squash but I still think I need chocolate every day! I have been really into pumpkin and squash this year too, though. I was very excited this weekend when I found a farm stand with all of these interesting/different varieties of squash. I probably bought 30 pounds worth!
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