Tuesday, September 14, 2010

SQUASH SOUP

Sorry about the lack of photos, but we're working on it (well actually someone who knows what they are doing is working on it!!!) and will soon (?!?) be rid of the laptop and back to normal services!!!

I made a really special soup for lunch today - and decided that soup is a good thing to blog about when you are photoless, as soup isn't that inspiring to look at (well that's my theory and I'm sticking to it!).

This weeks vegetable box was really inspiring and autumnal, a cute little sweet dumpling squash which I just halved, seeded  then baked with some salt, pepper and a tiny knob of butter - fantastic.

There was also a lovely (and large) butternut squash in the basket, and I thought it would be nice to add some other autumn flavours to make a warming and hopefully cheering (in this awful weather) soup.  I have a huge bag of cooking apples which M. my lovely sister in law gave me,  I figured that the squash and apples would be a good combination - this is what I came up with:



Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

1             medium squash (or half a large one)
2             medium onions
3             medium cooking apples (or granny smiths if not available)
1 tsp       ground cumin
1 tsp       ground coriander
1 tsp       turmeric
               olive oil
               chicken/vegetable stock



Peel the squash with a potato peeler.
Remove the seeds and cut into chunks.
Peel the onions and cut into chunks,
Peel and core the apples and (see a pattern!) cut into chunks.
Place the vegetables on a baking tray, sprinkle with the spices, salt and pepper.
Add enough olive oil to allow them to roast and pop into the oven at 180 C for about 30 minutes.
When they have begun to caramelise remove the vegetables from the oven and place in a pot.
Pour some boiling water/stock into the baking tray (to get the last of the caramelised juices)
Pour this stock and whatever extra is needed to just cover the squash, onion and apple in the pot.
Simmer for 15 minutes and then blitz with a hand held blitzer or whatever implement you use to make your soup smooth and delicious.
Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed, sometimes a teaspoon of honey added at this stage can balance the flavours perfectly.

The soup was all I had hoped for warming and welcoming - the perfect lunch to eat inside while watching the weather do it's worst!!!

*Photo added later

12 comments:

Lucie said...

This sounds just the ticket as the autumn closes in. Yum! Hope you're ok xxx

La Bella Cooks said...

I dont think I have ever had a squash soup with apples. I can just imagine the great flavor they must add. I will be trying this recipe this Fall.

freerangegirl said...

This sounds yummy and a good home for all my windfalls! Good luck with sorting out the pics x

Anonymous said...

I impulsively bought a butternut squash last week at the farmer's market, even though I've never had it before. It's been sitting in my vegetable drawer but if it's still good, I'm going to try your recipe. The weather's definitely cooled off a bit so it's soup weather around here now.

Hope you get your computer issues resolved.

ruairi said...

Cool!! My companion in crime over here in Stuttgart just made a similar recipe to this :-)

Its tasted as good as yours sounds on paper, got to love squash...tis the season for it!!

HanaĆ¢ said...

Oooooh that sounds wonderful. I love squash but butternut squash is my all-time favorite. How clever to combine it with apples. Both work really well with the spices you used.

Joie de vivre said...

Thanks so much for visiting! I'm so glad you did. I've signed up to follow you now. :)

Georgina Ingham | CulinaryTravels said...

I'm going to bookmark this for when I start getting squash in the veg box :)

Annie said...

we'll just have to find a way to photograph soups because your recipe is delicious!

Aisling said...

This looks delicious - I was looking for a squash soup recipe too! Think I might have to give it a go :)

Anonymous said...

No matter how much I try to imagine what this tastes like i cannot get my head around it. Apple and squash! Might just have to make it and find out!

a quiet life said...

now that cooler weather is coming i look forward to delish soups again~