Gingered Butternut Squash Soup

Winter came way too early for me this year.   I blame being born in the summertime for my love of the sun and the warmth that comes from it.  Now that the sun starts to go down at 4pm and the temperature drops to below anything comfortable, I go into hibernation mode.  Oh, if it were that easy... Instead, I put on my warm layers, turn up the heat and eat (or drink) something that will warm me up from the inside out.   

Squash is a great winter vegetable since most squash ripen in early to late autumn, and they can be stored for months after that.  I've made butternut squash several times before but since my palate has changed over the years, so has my recipe.  Check out my other, sweeter version of butternut squash soup as well as instructions on peeling butternut squash here!  

Ingredients

(vegan, gluten free, healthy!)

1 medium sized butternut squash (peeled and chopped)

1 medium carrot (peeled and small chop)

1 medium sweet potato (peeled and chopped)

1 small nub of fresh ginger (peeled and chopped)

(will only need 1 tbsp of ginger when chopped)

1 large cooking onion (peeled and chopped)

2 garlic cloves (peeled and chopped)

1 tbsp Coconut Oil

1 can (400ml) Coconut Milk

 Vegetable Broth (946 ml carton)

1/4 tsp of  sea salt (or Herbamere)

1/8 tsp cumin powder (or to taste)

ground pepper to taste

For garnish, you can use pumpkin seeds, cilantro or a drizzle of coconut milk!

Equipment needed

Large pot

Blender or Food processor

Knife/Cutting Board

Spoon for mixing in pot

Ladle

Instructions

• Have all ingredients ready, peeled and chopped.  Carrots should be a slightly smaller chop than other large orange ingredients since carrots take the longest to cook. 
• Melt coconut oil in large pot and add onion, cooking for 5 minutes or until soft and lightly browned (stirring occasionally). 
• Add garlic cooking for another minute.
• Add chopped squash, carrot, potato and ginger into pot. 
• Add vegetable broth, mixing all ingredients so that they're all coated.  You can add some water here so that liquid almost covers all vegetables in pot.   
• Cook on high temperature until liquid begins to boil, then turn temperature down to a simmer.  
• Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until all vegetables are soft and almost fall apart when pierced with a fork. 
• Once they're all nice and soft, slowly ladle ingredients from pot into food processor.  You may have to break this down and process a smaller amount before adding the rest of what's in the pot making sure to process until nice and smooth.  If you like a chunkier soup, stop processing when you're happy with the consistency. 
• Add the salt, pepper and cumin and whirl again.   
• Add the coconut milk** at the end and give it another whirl to incorporate.  

**If you want a thicker, creamier soup, keep your coconut milk can in the refrigerator for about an hour.  Remove and open can, careful not to shake it.  When you open the can, you'll find thick solid coconut cream on top.  Scoop that out carefully and into the food processor. About halfway down the can underneath all of that cream you'll find the liquid.  If you're happy with your soups consistency, discard the liquid, if you find it a little thick, add some of the liquid.  

• Garnish your soup with chopped pumpkin seed, cilantro or  a drizzle of coconut milk. 

Enjoy!! 

Wintery Butternut Squash Soup

I'm sure most of you would attest that if you're living in a climate where your winter's are cold , you think cold, snowy, blistery, wet, dark, cold, dreary, depressing, did I mention cold? I admit, there are a few things I love about winter here in Toronto. I really don't mind the snow so much since with all the snow, there's usually lots of sunshine. After a big snowfall, there's peace and quiet in the air, except for the scraping of the shovels on the sidewalk. I love my street after a good snow dump as my neighbours finally emerge from their homes after seeing them last in late fall, to clean their walks and interact with the others while lending a hand if needed.
Other great things about winter, snuggling up by the fire, hot chocolate (with Bailey's of course), and soup. I love a yummy bowl of soup to warm me up from the inside out, but it's not something I think of making often. I have a few favourites and they each serve a purpose. One is a common Greek Chicken Soup (actually, it's called egg and lemon soup) which I swear, is the magic ticket to curing the common cold. I try and make this when I'm feeling run down and I can feel a cold coming on. Even works when I've past that point and in full on sick mode. Maybe I'll run that recipe the next time I get sick (I'm knocking on wood as we speak!)

The other soup is love is a Butternut Squash soup. You really can't go wrong with making this, I've tried so many variations and I'm sure there are many more for me to explore. This time I used a combination of a few recipes I had made in the past and a few that I hadn't, and then came up with my own idea of what I wanted. Recipes that inspired me were one from Martha Stewart (I love her!), one from LCBO, and one from Earthbound Farm Organic.

So this is how I did it....
1 medium Butternut Squash
1 medium Yam or Sweet Potato
2 Pears (you can use apples too)
2 cloves of Garlic
1 medium Onion
5 cups of Vegetable or Chicken Stock (you can also use water instead)
Seasonings like ground cloves, cinnamon &/or pumpkin spice 1 tsp Honey

Start by peeling your butternut squash. If you've never peeled one before, it's just like peeling a potato as the skin is not very tough and pretty easy to do.

After it's peeled, cut in half length wise and scoop out the seed and stringy bits using a spoon or fork.

You can always used the seeds as well by washing them free of the stringy bits and spicing them up in the oven. After the squash is clean, chop it up into 1" square bits.

Do the same steps above with the pears and the yam/sweet potato. When all are chopped, set aside and grab your onion and garlic. Get a large pot and melt 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat. Peel, and chop onion and garlic, turn up the temperature to high, and toss into pot sauté-ing (is that a word?) for about 3 minutes (until see through). Then you can add your squash, pears and yam/sweet potato. Stir them up and sauté for 3 more minutes.

Add 5 cups of either water/veg stock or chicken stock (I only had 2&1/2 cups of chicken stock on hand so I used that and the rest was 2&1/2 cups of water.

For some extra flavour, I added 1 teaspoon of honey, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (adjust to your taste).

Let it cook down for 20 minutes of so, while occasionally giving it a stir. Wondering if it's ready? Stick a fork in the squash or yams and when soft, it's ready!

Final step, put everything into your food processor and purée. My food processor is not working (sniff) so I let my pot cool a bit before putting the ingredients into my glass blender.

Once it's puréed, it's ready to serve! Garnish with a drizzle of plain yogurt (or sour cream). The sourness offsets the sweet soup so nicely! If you've made too much, you can always freeze the rest and save it for a really cold winter day.