Roasted Squash and Apple Soup
We're getting ready for Halloween around here. We don't go ape about it. I'm sure the kids wish I did, but it's just so much WORK. I figure if we keep the expectations low, everyone's happier. We carve two pumpkins and go trick-or-treating in Columbia City. We trick-or-treat in the daylight, which I find much more satisfying. There are some cute-ass babies out there whose parents put a lot more work into the Adorable Factor than I do. We didn't celebrate Halloween when I was little. It's a long story, but suffice it to say I'm seriously determined that my kids will at least come home with loot, get all cracked out on sugar, and have fun tripping on ridiculous costumes.
Halloween means squash, and squash means soup. No doubt countless versions of squash soup are flooding the blogosphere. But when you've got some languishing squash in the basement plus a few gems from friends' gardens, is there anything easier and tastier?
I'll do anything to get around the absolute tedium of peeling squash. Recipes cavalierly say, "5 cups peeled and cubed squash." That's an hour of prep and a possible trip to the emergency room. I discovered a trick recently, though, which is to put your squash halves in the microwave for a minute, which softens them and makes it much less lethal to separate the skin from the flesh. (This sounds appropriately gory for a Halloween post.)
But I just roast everything together on one of my workhorse baking sheets--unpeeled squash cut-side down, some peeled apple, carrot chunks, onion, and garlic cloves, all tossed with a bit of curry powder and sugar. (At least that's how I did it this time. I've never made the same soup twice before starting this blog.) The house smelled amazing when I got back from retrieving Wyatt and Oscar at the bus stop. If Chai Spice Apple Bundt Cake is autumn incarnate, it's got some seasonal competition from this soup. I've made versions of it so many times--for our housewarming seven years ago when I was pregnant with Wyatt, for loads of volunteers where I used to work, for a first course when we've had dinner guests.
Here are some tips to keep in mind when you're making pureed soups:
- Don't be afraid of salt. (I think I'm always giving this tip about everything. Bear with me.)
- It's MUCH easier to thin a soup than to thicken it. For that reason, I always start with less liquid and add as I like.
- I don't like my spoon to stand straight up in my soup, and neither do I like it brothy. Somewhere in-between.
- This soup, because of the great roasted flavor and depth, didn't need cream. I put some in anyway, though, because it gives it a perfect touch of richness. Coconut milk would have been another good choice.
- If you're reheating it the next day, it will likely need more liquid.
- I rarely use chicken stock as the base for pureed soups. Water does just fine--it's cheaper and satisfied the vegetarians. Vegetarian water. That sounds like the next marketing ploy: "Water: Gluten free! Fat free! Guilt free! Meat-free!"
For those of you that sometimes wonder aloud whether my children eat things like this soup, no. They didn't. They complained, pushed their spoons around. I didn't feel bad and I didn't offer them anything else. But here's one little important detail--we did have these biscuits, and that made up for a lot. Wyatt should be Carbohydrate King for Halloween. How would I do that?
Roasted Squash and Apple Soup
I think butternut really is the Prince of Squashes for soup, but I had various ones--delicata, blue hubbard. As long as you use SOME butternut here, you'll be okay. And you can sub coconut milk for cream (just don't boil it vigorously after adding the coconut milk--it will curdle) or leave out the cream/coconut milk altogether. And you can make it spicier. I was trying to entice the kids. Obviously it didn't work. They're holding out for the candy.
olive oil
1 small Blue Hubbard squash
2 small Butternut squashes
2 small Delicata squashes
1 large apple, cut into wedges
1 small onion, very coarsely chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into carrot sticks (about 6 sticks per carrot)
6 whole garlic cloves, peeled
3 tsp. curry powder
1 Tb. sugar
salt
5 c. water
1/2 c. orange juice
1/3 c. heavy cream
Preheat oven to 375.
Cut each squash in half, remove seeds, and rub with olive oil. Place cut side down on a baking sheet.
In a medium bowl, toss apple, onion, carrots, and garlic cloves with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, 2 ts. of the curry powder, sugar, and salt. Arrange apple mixture around the squash and roast the whole thing for about 50 minutes, until everything is very soft and charred in places. Remove from oven and let cool. Spoon cooked squash out of the skin.
In two batches, put cooked veggies and 2 1/2 c. water into blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Pour into large stockpot and add orange juice, cream, remaining tsp. of curry powder, and more salt to taste. Bring to a simmer and simmer for about 15 minutes until flavors are blended. Serve with a swirl of cream on top, if you like, or a bit of chopped cilantro or parlsey.
October 30, 2009
Reader Comments (14)
Sounds delicious! You may have motivated me to cook something that doesnt come in a box! :)
I was just athinkin' today...'I want to make that squash apple soup this week, but where is that recipe?' and then, low and behold, it appears on your blog before I can think to look. Very handy. I bought this pumpkin (of which I cannot remember the name) which my mother-in-law thought had gone bad because it was covered in barnacle-looking growths. Apparently, it is great for soup. I'll see how it works with this recipe.
Carbohydrate King? Hmmm...
Do you remember the fairly recent Sesame Street episode where the the Cookie Fairy grants Cookie Monster the "cookie touch" and everything he touches turns into cookies? What's-her-name-award-winning-actress-as-Cookie-Fairy had a divine costume, which included a crown and jewels made out of an assortment of hard decorative butter cookies.
I'm thinking, you just got to get your hands on some very stale crusty bread and rolls, string'em together like you would popcorn and cranberries, throw in some pipe cleaners artistry/engineering, and you're good to go! (Just don't go down to Alki, he might not survive the seagull attack.)
Maybe too much for tomorrow afternoon. But I have I feeling he'll still be Carb King next Halloween.
I've been wondering how to avoid Halloween as much as possible tomorrow. The boys don't do all the specialness (breaking their routine!) of holidays very well, and the really really don't do scary very well. And strangers coming to the door in random/sometimes scary costumes. Oh heck no.
PS - I may attempt to cook something someday, but I assure you it will never involve peeling, cubing, and roasting squash.
May I just say BRAVO for not boiling up a pot of blue box mac and chz? When my child is big enough to share dinners with us, I have no plans on becoming a short-order cook just because my kid doesn't like dinner. However, check back in five years and see if I'm sticking to it...
I tried making a pumpkin soup last year and was just not satisfied with it. My hubby loves squash and this soup looks like it has a real depth of flavor and richness to it...so, I think I will give it a whirl and see what transpires.
Ok, need to discuss your oven times... When are you using your convection oven? I've found that squash takes FOREVER to roast, even when it's at a high temp and chopped really small. So how do you get half a squash done in 50 minutes?
Didn't use convection here--these squash were really small. If you're using bigger ones, just cut them into quarters. And roasting them cut-side down creates little steam baths in the cavity of the squash and speeds up the cooking process a little, too. You don't want to do a high temp here, otherwise the outside will get burnt while the inside of the squash will be too raw.
Also, this might be a two-day process for you. We've talked about how lots of my recipes don't work for your crazy schedule :) You might roast everything one night while you're cleaning up from dinner, then make it into a soup the next day.
I can't wait to try this. I am a major roaster in the fall/winter. My usual butternut squash soup has potatoes, celery, carrots and onions. The usual. I think yours sounds jazzier and yummier. Thanks Sarah!
sounds wonderful! I cant wait to make soup, but its just simply too hot here to do so.
Sounds great! I love the combo of apples and squash...yum!
Yum with a little kick. Alley neighbor and fellow reader, but not yet commenter (come on, Julia ;) made this and shared the wealth with me which I'm having for lunch at my desk.
Love the joking about the repetitive squash/fall postings.
I had a squash-centric weekend and made both this soup and the Butternut Walnut Galette. Both were delicious; I wish I would have followed the suggestion to double the galette crust recipe so I could have made another. I'll definitely be experimenting with galettes in future.
I love roasted vegetables, so this soup was right up my alley. I did make a couple of substitutions - I used a butternut and a white acorn as that is what was available. I also used (homemade) chicken broth that I had in the freezer and half-and-half rather than cream. Paired with a loaf of crusty Grand Central Bakery olive bread it was the perfect supper during the weekend's storm.
I made an obscene amount of this for our first annual 'pumpkin party' with an odd-looking wonderful pumpkin, an acorn squash, an Amish squash, and little summer squash. It was yummy, yummy. Thanks. Many of the party confessed after eating it (and liking it!) that they had gagged at the very idea of pumpkin soup. Nice-- I love low expectations. As a lover of pureed soups in general, your tips list is great. I would, however, add that a hand blender makes pureed soup so easy.
Flawless. This is Exactly just what I was searching for yesterday. I simply can't understand how it took me this long to find someone who write what I needed in plain English. Thank you.