Curried Summer Squash Soup

Tap tap tap.... is this thing on?... :)

We have had quite a busy summer so far. It opened with an amazing wedding - so incredibly happy for my brother-in-law and new sister-in-law. Classic, beautiful, southern wedding, but so unique and incredibly them. 

The day before that was the rehearsal dinner, and I was part of the cooking crew for our French Picnic themed dinner... smoked chicken, chilled squash soup, roasted green beans, yum yum. I was particularly thrilled with the chilled squash soup. My husband had started a garden for us in the backyard, and I knew I had a lot of summer squash... so this is my spicy twist on the rehearsal dinner recipe. I'm calling it curried because it's a little spicy and has curry powder in it. I'm not sure if that's technically correct or not, all well. 

Ingredients:

Several medium sized summer squash, seeded and chopped.

One medium onion, chopped

2 tbsp. butter

Dash of olive oil

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp white pepper 

1 tsp tumeric 

Salt (to taste)

Water (about 1 to 2 cups, depends)

3/4 cup heavy cream (more or less to your taste)

How To Make it:

*Note: You will need some type of blender for this. 

First, get a pretty big soup type pot on medium heat. Toss in the butter and dash of olive oil.

Next, start seeding and chopping your summer squash. I cut them half, and then use a spoon to scoop out the seeds.

Chop them up, it doesn't need to be perfect, because it's going in the blender. Whoot. Just help the blender out. Set those aside.

Next, chop up your onion. Put it in the pot that has your butter and olive oil. Let those and soften. Once they have cooked for about 2 minutes, put in all of your spices. The ones I posted are suggestions - feel free to experiment, but that combo gives a real nice subtle heat for your soup. Let the onions and spices sizzle and look and smell wonderful.

Mmmm. Yum. Next, put the squash in on top of that and mix it around. Let the squash and onions and spices cook for a few minutes so that the squash softens.

Your kitchen should be smelling pretty yummy right now. Good job. Now, you need to put enough water in the pot to just barely cover the squash - too much water and the soup will be too runny, not enough... you get my drift. Just cover the veggies. 

Now, bring the pot to a low, steady simmer and just let it go for about 10 to 12 minutes or so... stir occasionally. 

Okay so here comes the fun part.... soup time. You can do this several ways. This is how I go about it.... I empty the entire thing into another big casserole container. I think of this as my pre-blended pot, and the blended stuff is going back into the original pot... hope that makes sense. I blend it in about two batches and then put it in the original soup pot over low.

Whoo hoo you are almost done! Now you have your blended squashy puree over low in the pot. Now you can add your heavy cream - I add at least a half a cup, but it's how creamy you want the soup to be. 

It's such a pretty color. Now taste your soup. If you would like more heat or spices, add them slowly and continue to taste until you're happy. The soup is excellent hot or chilled, it is a mild flavor and slow steady heat that makes it very enjoyable. I served it with grilled cheese for a nice week day dinner with the hubster.

Our garden overflows with squash. Probably gonna be making this one a lot. Hope y'all enjoy! :)

Roasted Root Vegetables

Happy New Year everyone! And Happy Super Bowl Sunday :) It's been a very blustery winter these past few weeks! 

I grew up in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Delaware (mostly). So when it comes to snow, I have memories of walking on a frozen Lake Erie, our dog getting stuck, and staring at the snow because it was taller than me. In Virginia, it's a little different.... threats of snow or drops of snow mean that school is cancelled for two or three days in a row! My schedule has been very wonky these past few weeks. 

Winter time isn't necessarily my favorite season, but I do love food in winter. One of my dilemmas is often side dishes. I have a nice roasted chicken or a nice pork chop, but what can serve with it that's easy and yummy? 

So, lately I've been on a roasted vegetable kick. If you have not roasted your vegetables before, you are doing life wrong. I grew up with boiled green beans, canned corn, etc- so it's no wonder I didn't want to eat my vegetables! This recipe makes me come back for seconds of veggies, and curl up with them as a snack when there are leftovers. And you can ask my parents, my husband, my friends - I'm not a huge vegetable person. But I love these, so maybe you will too!

Roasted Root Vegetables:

Ingredients:
2 medium turnips
2 large sweet potatoes
1 large red onion
3 carrots
4 tbsp olive oil (3 and 3)
1 tbsp of dried thyme
1/2 tbsp of sage
1 dash of balasmic vinegar
Zest of lemon
Handful chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste


 How I Make them!

This recipe is one that my mother-in-law used for Thanksgiving this past year from Bon Appetit magazine and I'm basically obsessed. I've adapted it to better suit what I typically have on hand. It consists of sweet potatoes (which are not just for marshmellows), red onion, carrots, and turnips.

Turnips are amazing. I didn't know. I feel like I've wasted 24 years of life not eating them. 

Preheat your oven to 425!

Then, you cut up the vegetables into big chunks and put them on a cookie tray! I don't even bother peeling them, but if the skins bother you go ahead and peel them before chopping.

Next, you toss them with olive oil, thyme, sage, salt, and pepper..... and stick them in the oven. After about 30 - 40 minutes, they look like THIIIIISS:

Mmmm, browned and roasted and yummy. Then, you whip up some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and more thyme, and drizzle it on the top. Adding fresh lemon zest and parsley on top also gives it a nice zip. 

Oh yum. Yummmmm. They go well with any winter dish!! :) Like I said before, sometimes I put the leftover ones in a bowl for a snack ---- 

Mmmm so he brown and crispy the tops are? Yummm.

Does anyone else have an epic way to serve vegetables??