Recipe: Winter Squash Soup
24/12/07 14:40![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eredienWinter Squash Soup
This is a variation on the soup my sister made for Christmas last year. This is delicious with about a tablespoon of red and/or green hot sauce added to it.
- 3.5 cups cold water
- 3 tbsp vegetable broth base (I used "Better than Boullion" veggie base because I'm busy).
- 1 small ripe acorn squash, cut into chunks
- 1 small ripe butternut squash, cut into chunks
- 1 ripe red apple, unpeeled
- 1 red onion, peeled and cut into eighths
- 1 small potato, scrubbed, unpeeled, with eyes removed
- 1 medium clove garlic, peeled
- 1 bay leaf
- pinch fennel seeds
- pinch cumin seed
- pinch cardamom seeds
- a few whole black peppercorns
- 1/8 c light cream (optional)
Equipment needed:
- Blender
- Food processor (optional but really helpful)
- Crockpot (Largish, or if you have a tiny crockpot you can scale down the recipe.)
- Big ladle
- Bowl or large measuring pitcher
- Cheesecloth/twine or Tea Ball/Infuser
- Knife
- Cutting board
Thoughts:
- If you don't know how to tell if a squash is ripe or what type of squash is which, try the Holland, Michigan Farmer's Market site.
- I used "Yukon Gold" potatoes because the sign in the store claimed it was easy to mash. I am sure that anything soft enough is fine. It's not necessary to peel it unless you really need to, because it adds a lot of heartiness and vitamins to the soup after pureeing everything.
- I didn't have room for turnips or carrots or other root veggies, but if you have a huge crockpot, go for it.
- I like the onion/apple/squash/potato combo. Apple, onion, and potato are a classic trio (the apple and onion add sweetness and bite; the potato adds sweetness and body. I think pureed squash needs body; squash by itself is always somewhat baby-food like).
Instructions:
- Assemble herbs (but not garlic) in tea ball/infuser or cheesecloth/twine.
- Put water and broth base in crockpot. Add herb ball.
- Turn crockpot to "high."
- Slice potato thinly and add to crockpot.
- Slice apple into small chunks and add to crockpot.
- Put squash chunks into food processor. Process until the pieces of squash are more like flakes of squash.
- Put squash flakes into crockpot.
- Put onion and garlic clove together into food processor until diced. Put into crockpot.
- Leave for about an hour.
- Upon your return, the potato bits and everything should be all nice and soft but still have a shape. If the potato isn't soft yet, wait a little while longer.
- Ladle some soup into the blender, until about halfway full. Warning! The soup is warm so the lid will expand when you turn the blender on. Keep your hand on the lid and don't fill the blender up too much or you will have squash flakes on your ceiling. Not merry or joyous!
- Blend soup until pureed. I used a combination of the "puree" and "liquefy" settings.
- Dump blended soup into bowl or large measuring pitcher.
- Repeat with rest of soup.
- Pour bowl of pureed soup back into crockpot.
- Add cream slowly, stirring with ladle (optional).
- Take herbs out of crockpot.
- Set crockpot to "keep warm."
Eat whenever. I like to have this ready to go before I go to church. Yum!
This is a variation on the soup my sister made for Christmas last year. This is delicious with about a tablespoon of red and/or green hot sauce added to it.
- 3.5 cups cold water
- 3 tbsp vegetable broth base (I used "Better than Boullion" veggie base because I'm busy).
- 1 small ripe acorn squash, cut into chunks
- 1 small ripe butternut squash, cut into chunks
- 1 ripe red apple, unpeeled
- 1 red onion, peeled and cut into eighths
- 1 small potato, scrubbed, unpeeled, with eyes removed
- 1 medium clove garlic, peeled
- 1 bay leaf
- pinch fennel seeds
- pinch cumin seed
- pinch cardamom seeds
- a few whole black peppercorns
- 1/8 c light cream (optional)
Equipment needed:
- Blender
- Food processor (optional but really helpful)
- Crockpot (Largish, or if you have a tiny crockpot you can scale down the recipe.)
- Big ladle
- Bowl or large measuring pitcher
- Cheesecloth/twine or Tea Ball/Infuser
- Knife
- Cutting board
Thoughts:
- If you don't know how to tell if a squash is ripe or what type of squash is which, try the Holland, Michigan Farmer's Market site.
- I used "Yukon Gold" potatoes because the sign in the store claimed it was easy to mash. I am sure that anything soft enough is fine. It's not necessary to peel it unless you really need to, because it adds a lot of heartiness and vitamins to the soup after pureeing everything.
- I didn't have room for turnips or carrots or other root veggies, but if you have a huge crockpot, go for it.
- I like the onion/apple/squash/potato combo. Apple, onion, and potato are a classic trio (the apple and onion add sweetness and bite; the potato adds sweetness and body. I think pureed squash needs body; squash by itself is always somewhat baby-food like).
Instructions:
- Assemble herbs (but not garlic) in tea ball/infuser or cheesecloth/twine.
- Put water and broth base in crockpot. Add herb ball.
- Turn crockpot to "high."
- Slice potato thinly and add to crockpot.
- Slice apple into small chunks and add to crockpot.
- Put squash chunks into food processor. Process until the pieces of squash are more like flakes of squash.
- Put squash flakes into crockpot.
- Put onion and garlic clove together into food processor until diced. Put into crockpot.
- Leave for about an hour.
- Upon your return, the potato bits and everything should be all nice and soft but still have a shape. If the potato isn't soft yet, wait a little while longer.
- Ladle some soup into the blender, until about halfway full. Warning! The soup is warm so the lid will expand when you turn the blender on. Keep your hand on the lid and don't fill the blender up too much or you will have squash flakes on your ceiling. Not merry or joyous!
- Blend soup until pureed. I used a combination of the "puree" and "liquefy" settings.
- Dump blended soup into bowl or large measuring pitcher.
- Repeat with rest of soup.
- Pour bowl of pureed soup back into crockpot.
- Add cream slowly, stirring with ladle (optional).
- Take herbs out of crockpot.
- Set crockpot to "keep warm."
Eat whenever. I like to have this ready to go before I go to church. Yum!