This kind of weather definitely makes for good soup weather, though and soup was on the menu for tonight.
I recently checked Jack Bishop's A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen out of the library. I am absolutely loving this book. So far I have tried 3 recipes and we have loved all of them - Creamy Tomato Soup, Black Bean Chilaquiles and tonight's dinner, Butternut Squash Soup with Chipotle Chiles and Garlic. I promise to come back and review the other two recipes later....
So, here I am the next day continuing with my post. The boys and I sat down to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas last night and I fell asleep! Anyway, back to the butternut squash soup....
I am continuing to use up the butternut squash in our freezer that I mentioned on a previous post. Before I go on to the soup, let me briefly mention that I used butternut squash puree in place of pumpkin in my favorite pumpkin bread and it worked beautifully (I left out the chocolate chips, though).
Mmmm...it was very good. With the exception of baked goods, I generally don't like my squash to be sweet, so the spice and heat from the chipotles was the perfect way to play up the savory aspects of the butternut. The croutons - I used a loaf of whole grain sourdough from Wegmans - add a nice crunch and a bit of relief from the heat. The nuttiness of the whole grains pair nicely with the squash. The soup was also extremely easy to make, considering that I already had the puree sitting in the freezer.
We are having so much fun with butternut squash puree that I have decided that I will plant at least one butternut plant in the garden next year. Our freezer supply is now down to only about 4 cups, so I'll have to be careful about what I choose next - and I've already promised my oldest that I'd make the Butternut Squash Risotto, so that really only leaves 2 cups.....maybe some more "pumpkin" bread, that was sooo good......mmm.........
On this day in...
2006: Sweet Rolls on Sunday
I want that book. His earlier one Vegetables Every Day is a fantastic book, and it's pretty old so you can get copies on Amazon.com for not that much money.
ReplyDeleteKalyn - Thanks for the tip on the vegetable book, I will look for it. I also have my eye on his Italian cookbook.......
ReplyDeleteI wish you lived nearby. I could load you up with squash -- I have some from the farm where I work, and more from the CSA I'm a member of. I have yet to find a recipe that makes me like the stuff. I'm working at it, though. I'll have to try that soup.
ReplyDeleteTracy - I'm not a huge fan either. The trick for me is to puree it - I cannot bite into it, the texture really turns me off. If you want to try it - I would also recommend the risotto, the pumpkin bread and the sausage, squash and wild rice soup. If I have enough next year, I plan to try pumpkin pie using the squash too.........
ReplyDelete