As I said in a recent social media post one of my most favourite things about the arrival of cooler temps is dusting off the soup pot and getting busy and creative. My now 10 years young son saw a butternut squash at a farm stand a couple weeks ago and immediately asked, “mummy, when are you going to make that butternut squash soup that I love?” Well. As soon as I possibly can, love of my life, stealer of my heart, boy. And so, this past Monday I raced home from teaching yoga all morning and threw this gem together in a flash. This soup is soooooooo simple and quick to make – there really is no excuse. And it’s super healthy, delicious, nutritious and filling. Oh, and completely #vegan (not that anyone who is not of that persuasion would have a clue that it has that hashtag). Back in the days of The Natural Choice Health Market in Southold, which I opened in 2000, we couldn’t make enough of it fast enough for our soup-loving customers and it became somewhat of an iconic little soup for those in the know in Southold. And today, I’m sharing the recipe with you.
Curried Butternut Squash Soup
1 medium – large butternut squash, preferably organic from a local farm
1 cup raw almonds
6 cups vegetable stock
sea salt
curry powder
black pepper
METHOD:
Bring 4 cups water to boil on stove. When at rolling boil, drop cup of almonds in the water for 30 seconds – 1 minute until just returned to the boil. Turn off heat, drain almonds in a colander and rinse almonds thoroughly with cold water. Push almonds out of skin with your thumb and index finger, reserve skinless almond, discard skin. Congratulations. You have just blanched almonds!
Meanwhile, peel and cube butternut squash, be sure to discard all seeds. Bring vegetable stock to low boil and add butternut squash. Cook on low rolling boil until soft – about 1/2 hour. Once squash is soft/cooked turn off heat. Remove squash from stock being certain to reserve the stock with slotted spoon and place in large bowl.
Put 1/3 cup blanched almonds and 2 cups of stock in blender and blend for couple of minutes until almonds are completely blended into stock and there are no lumps of almond. Then, turn off blender, add about 1/3 of the butternut squash, 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt, 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder (to your taste) and sprinkle of black pepper. Blend briefly until all squash is blended into almond stock. Add stock/water as needed to create smoothy creamy consistency. Transfer to soup pot. Repeat process until all stock and squash have been blended. Taste for seasoning, adjust as necessary.
NOTES: Measurements of stock/butternut squash ratios are approximate as of course every squash is its own size and volume. When you boil squash you want stock to just cover all squash. And from there you add water judiciously as needed to create creamy soup at the thickness you like. This soup keeps well and freezes very well for future easy meals. Kids love it and the seasonings in this rendition are scaled around a childs capacity for curry (at least my 10 year old American childs). Feel free to add more and use less as your taste buds dictate. Enjoy! This is a fabulous soup that is superb at Thanksgiving and is a hit wherever you serve it.
