roasted butternut squash soup
Oh, hi there.
I haven’t felt all that great lately, so this little space has been a bit neglected. But, last night, I got back into the kitchen. It felt good. I tried to make these lemon cranberry scones, substituting buttermilk for heavy cream. I had to scoop the liquid-y batter onto the sheet pan, and ended up with muffin tops. Tasty, tasty muffin tops. I seriously recommend them either way.
Also made some moroccan-spiced spaghetti squash over couscous. If you’ve never had the pleasure of scraping a spaghetti squash from its skin, please try it. It’s too delightful. The recipe calls for microwaving the squash, which I was leery of. Don’t be. It totally works. As does roasting at 375 for an hour.
What I really came here to share, though, is a roasted butternut squash soup. I’ll just tell you about it.
Peel a 2-2.5 pound butternut squash and cut into smaller pieces. Peel 4 carrots. Peel and onion and cut it into quarters. Toss all of this into a cast iron pot with just enough oil to keep things from sticking. Roast at 375 until tender and uh, roast-y, about 45 minutes to an hour.
While this was happening, I used a blender to puree 5 cups vegetable stock along with a tablespoon of fresh ginger and a couple of teaspoons of chile paste. You could skip this step, or get crafty with other spices.
I also chopped up a bunch of cilantro along with 2 cloves of garlic and a handful of sliced almonds. Really chopped. Really finely. It took a while. Then I put it all in a bowl and stirred in enough olive oil to hold the pesto together.
Also…I de-seeded a pomegranate. In a bowl of water. I enjoy de-seeding a pomegranate almost as much as I like scraping out a spaghetti squash. I’m weird.
Once the vegetables were roasted, I took them out of the oven and put the pot on the stove over a medium flame, adding the stock mixture. Simmered it briefly, seasoned with salt. Oh, yeah, almost forgot…blended it again in small batches until smooth. Have you ever blown the lid off a blender with hot soup? Me, too.
What I ended up with was a creamy, spicy soup with a bright, garlic-y flavor from the pesto and a few sweet, crunchy bursts from the pomegranate seeds.
In case I don’t make it back in time, I hope everyone who’s celebrating has a great Thanksgiving! Do tell, what are your plans? What recipes do you have laid out? I’ll be working on Thanksgiving, but I’ve decided to be thankful that I have a job. Hopefully, I’ll see my family over the weekend :)
Cheers!
*soup inspired by pinch my salt
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This looks fabulous. Seriously good and totally buzzable :)
I hope you’re feeling better!
thanks! :)