Curry Squash Soup

I’m still working through the mass quantities of squash from Friday’s Fall CSA.  Because I’ve been spending so much time with squash, I had a revelation today that I would like to share.  I love – really, really love – winter squash!  Who knew?  As I ate the last of my leftover Baked Winter Squash Pasta for lunch today, I fully realized the awesomeness of winter squash.

Squash is pretty.  Squash is tasty.  Squash is healthy!

So for my next squash recipe, I was inspired by the Coconut Curry Soup at Fresh Veggies in the Desert.  I am not a fan of coconut, but the combo of squash and curry sounded yummy, so I decided to experiment.

I started by roasting one of the kobacha squash from my CSA.  This is my new favorite squash.  It’s a little weird-looking, but that’s part of the fun.  It has a sweet taste, the texture is velvety, and it’s such a bright orange!  Love it!

While the squash was cooking, I cut up some carrots and onions, and sautéed them in a heavy-bottomed pan with olive oil.  I added salt, pepper, and curry powder to the veggies.  (As soon as I added the curry, it started to smell fantastic!!)  After they cooked for about 10 minutes, I added some chicken stock.

When the squash was done, I scooped out the insides and put them aside in a bowl.

I blended the squash and the chicken stock/veggie mixer in two batches.  I wanted a really smooth soup, so I blended it for a couple of minutes, then added it back to the pot to simmer.  Such a pretty color!

I felt like the soup needed something added to it, so I sautéed some shrimp with olive oil, salt, pepper and smoked paprika.  I love the bags of frozen, easy peel shrimp.  It’s such an easy, healthy add-on to a meal and it only takes a couple of minutes to cook!  I originally used smoked paprika for the color, but it turns out that the smoky flavor went wonderfully with the soup.

It’s nice when a plan comes together.

I topped the whole thing with a drizzle of sour cream just to make it look pretty, and there it is!  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this dish.

Has anyone else ever made a recipe that you weren’t terribly excited about, but then ended up loving?  Isn’t it a nice surprise?

Now, the recipe:

Curry Squash Soup

• 5 – 6 cups cooked squash
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 2 small onions or 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 2 Tablespoons Curry Powder
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  There are different ways to cook squash, but I’ve had good luck with this method:  Cut the squash in half and scoop out seeds.  Place the squash, skin side up, in a casserole dish with about 1/2 inch of water.  Cook until the squash is soft – for this recipe, it took about an hour.  When you remove the squash from the oven, let cool for a few minutes.  Scoop out the cooked squash and set aside.

Add olive oil to a heavy bottom pan over medium heat.  Add carrots and onions, salt, pepper and curry powder and cook until soft (about 10 minutes).  Add chicken stock and continue to cook for 5-10 minutes.

Blend half the squash with half the carrot/onion mixture until smooth.  Blend the second half (unless you have a really big blender and you can fit it all in one batch).  Return to the stovetop and simmer.

Eat and enjoy!!

 

Swamped with Squash!

Last night, I picked up my first of two fall CSA shares from Basket of Life Farm.  I was thrilled to see some Rainbow Chard on top of the first box (that’s right – two boxes!) along with some beets and a kohlrabi.  I have to do some research on the kohlrabi – I’ve never cooked with one or eaten one, so that should be an adventure!

I also got shallots, onions, potatoes, a huge beautiful cabbage…and a fabulous selection of squashes.  Two big butternut squashes, acorn squashes, kobacha squashes, a pie pumpkin and a buckskin pumpkin!

Buckskin pumpkin!

Unfortunately, storage space is at a premium in my kitchen, so this morning I decided that I needed to cook up some of this squash to freeze for later.  The buckskin pumpkin is the largest, but it’s also supposed to last for quite a while, so I moved on to my next target:  one of the super sized butternut squashes.

I cut the squash into quarters and scooped out the seeds.  It was so big that I needed two casserole dishes to fit all the pieces!  I roasted them at 400 degrees,  skin side up, with a small amount of water in the casserole dishes.  It took about an hour and a half until all the pieces were tender.  I let them cool for just a few minutes, and scooped out all the good bright orange squashy goodness.

This was about a third of the cooked squash. It made a ton!

Well, since I had this yummy looking cooked squash right in front of my, I decided to try a recipe that I had seen on one of my new favorite blogs – Five and Spice.  It was a recipe for a Baked Winter Squash Pasta.  I know – sounds great, right?  As it turns out, this dish is awesome.  I think I’m going to be making it again for a new Thanksgiving side dish!

I also entered this recipe in my calorie tracker (that’s right, I’m still tracking!) and it’s only 110 calories per serving.  Now, I did use low fat sour cream, but I wasn’t skimpy on the cheese and this is still a really healthy recipe.  I would definitely recommend it!

It only took a few minutes to mix together the squash sauce and cook the pasta.  I popped it back in the oven to get all melty and delicious, and broiled it at the very end to brown up the cheese on top.

And even though it wasn’t quite lunchtime yet…I’ll admit it.  I had to try a bite!

Nom nom nom

Thank you to everyone out there posting great squash recipes – I’m going to need them!

Happy weekend!

Butternet Squash Risotto

So earlier in the summer, I was searching for eggplant recipes to use the plethora of eggplant I was getting each week in my CSA box. (I found a couple really good recipes I need to post – I’ll try to get caught up soon!)  Now that we’re edging into autumn, I’m swamped with squash!  And I’m searching for new and delicious squash recipes.

I’ve had the most luck so far with butternut.  A few days ago, I made some kick ass Butternut Squash Fries (the recipe is here).  And tonight, I made a fabulous and beautiful butternut Squash Risotto.  I don’t make risotto much, but I really should take the time to make it more often.   It’s warm and comforting…perfect for a chilly, gray day like today.  It’s funny – as soon as the weather gets cold and it starts to get dark earlier and earlier, all I want to cook/eat is comfort foods!  (Yesterday it was garlic mashed potatoes and roasted Brussel sprouts – maybe it’s not everybody’s comfort food, but it was definitely yummy!).

This recipe was really easy, but it took longer than I expected (like I said, I don’t make risotto very often, and I forget that it’s pretty time intensive – at least compared to the minute rice I usually make!).  I served the risotto with some Rainbow Shard sauted with garlic and a grilled strip steak with blue cheese.  Fantastic!

Here’s the recipe, but I’m really bad about measuring, so the amounts are approximate.  I think they’re pretty close, though!

Butternut Squash Risotto

• 1/2 a butternut squash, diced small
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 cup arborio rice
• about 3 1/2 cups chicken stock
• olive oil
• salt
• butter
• Parmesan cheese, grated

Saute the shallots in olive oil until soft.  Add the diced squash, salt and cook until tender. I added a pat of butter here as well, since there wasn’t much olive oil left in the pan.

Remove 1/2 the squash from the pan (I did this so I could add it back at the end and have some nice texture to the risotto). Add rice and saute for a couple minutes with the remaining veggies.  Add about a cup of chicken stock and cook over medium heat, stirring often.  When the liquid is almost all absorbed, add more about a 1/2 cup at a time. Continue until the rice is creamy and al dente.

(I think that shadow was my head. My kitchen isn’t really set up well for taking pictures!)

Add the remaining squash back to the pan.  Stir in a chunk of butter and some Parmesan cheese to finish.  Eat and enjoy!  I wasn’t paying enough attention to the clock, but I’m sure this took at least a half an hour.  Worth the time, though – I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow as well!

Now, if only I can figure out what to do with the acorn and carnival squashes I have waiting…

Anybody have a favorite squash recipe to share?  Any help would be appreciated!