Admittedly, I am intrigued by mysterious ingredients. What, not everyone wants to know how to ferment sand fleas? Neither fermenting or the nuanced taste for sand fleas have a place on crunchtime because we’re about real food possibilities without having beachfront foraging or erector set cooking. With that commitment and a whispered request from BFF, I will highlight recipes that have 5 Ingredients or Less and those recipes that can be made in 15 Minutes or Less with a nifty little graphic and a category listing to that effect. And in a few days, we’ll have a slightly new design for our site that will make it easier to browse.
This fall harvest soup requires few ingredients because it’s nearly dairy and fat free (thanks butter for that), but not free of rich flavor.
Roasted squash soup requires a block of time – say 1.5 hours – but it’s not all hands on. Weekend preparation makes it easy and gives you a nice start to your weekday meals.
Kabocha squash is available in most ample produce departments; butternut squash also serves up well.
After scooping out the squash seeds, we baste the flesh and the onion with melted curry butter.
With flesh side down, the vegetables will roast for about an hour.
Once they are tinged a caramely brown, pinch the onion from it’s skin into the blender and scoop in the roasted squash and puree with chicken stock.
cumin roasted squash soup
preptime 25 min. overall 6-8 servings
baketime 45 – 60 min.
1 kabocha squash (about 2 1/2 lbs)
1 large onion
2 Tbsp butter
2 tsp cumin (curry works too)
3 cups chicken broth
- Cut kabocha squash in half lengthwise. I work my large carving knife around slowly to make the incision. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon.
- Cut the unpeeled onion in half.
- Add cumin to melted butter to make cumin butter.
- Brush cumin butter on flesh side of vegetables. Place vegetables flesh side down on rimmed baking pan and roast in a 350Ëš oven for 45-60 minutes until soft.
- Working in batches when the squash is cool enough to handle, scoop out one squash half and pinch one onion half into your blender with 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock. Blend until smooth and pour into a soup pot. Repeat with remaining halves of vegetables and stock. You may need to work in three batches if your blender is smaller. No need to worry about exact measurements in the blender. You’ll mix all blended ingredients together in your soup pot.
- Heat soup in pot and adjust thickness with chicken stock and flavors with salt and pepper.
Garnishing: I prefer a dollup of creme fraiche, sour cream, or non-fat plain yogurt. Topped with toasted pumpkin seeds, almonds or fried sage. Use your imagination.
Options: Add 1/4 – 1/2 cup cream for a truly luxurious soup. Serve in shot glasses as appetizers.
recipe inspired by Sunset Magazine 2009 publication and provided by your friends at crunchtimefood.com
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