Roasting squashWe’ve been discussing squash all month, and as a final tribute, here’s a basic squash soup recipe that can be applied to several winter varieties of squash. These include pumpkin, acorn, butternut, and kabocha squash. Some version of butternut squash soup usually makes it onto the holiday menu at the big resort I work at.

Remember to be careful when cutting open squash. Use a sharp knife, and take a deep breath if you get the knife stuck. It is perfectly appropriate to slam the squash onto the cutting board with the knife in it. This will help the knife cut through the squash, and open the vegetable. Keep a firm grip on the knife when you do this.

Scoop the seeds out with a large spoon. It’s less work that way. Most seeds aren’t worth saving. I’ve tried. The pumpkin seeds that you get in the store are a different variety pumpkin then the small sugar pumpkins we use for cooking. If you throw them in the compost, you might get some seedlings growing. That’s how I got the accidental garden.

Take this soup to a party, watch it disappear. You can serve it hot or cold. A bit of whipped coconut cream with grated nutmeg is delicious on this soup. Don’t hold back on the creativity, add stuff to this recipe. Share it with us if you do on facebook or pinterest. Especially if you take a picture of the soup.

Stay warm, and I hope these recipes help warm your holiday season.

Base Squash Soup
A great soup to enjoy in the winter, and a springboard for imaginative flavor combinations.
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Ingredients
  1. 2 cups squash, pureed (pumpkin, acorn, butternut)
  2. 2 tbsp grated ginger or ginger paste
  3. 2 cups coconut milk, full fat (1 15 oz can)
  4. 2 cinnamon sticks, whole
  5. 5-6 whole cloves
  6. 1/2 nutmeg grated
  7. 2-3 whole star anise, broken
  8. 1/2 tsp whole peppercorn
  9. 1 cup vegetable stock
  10. 1 tsp salt
Instructions
  1. Grate ginger with a microplane
  2. Roast the squash in the oven
  3. In a food processor, puree squash with 1 cup vegetable stock.
  4. Heat the coconut milk up in a sturdy stock pot
  5. Add all the ingredients except for stock and squash.
  6. Add in the squash puree
  7. Add more vegetable stock to thin out soup (as the soup thickens during the cooking process, thin it out now and then with more vegetable stock)
  8. Cook for 20-25 minutes, allowing time for all the flavors to blend.
  9. Strain through a sieve
  10. Cool soup down and store (unless serving right away)
Notes
  1. Serve hot with a dollop of tofutti sour cream.
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