Kade in the Kitchen…with savory squash

by Kade Bentley –

 

What to do with all that squash!

Where I live during the summer we have an abundance of squash. It’s fairly easy to grow, and while the plants take up a lot of room, they often yield well. Winter squash stores especially well. Pluck them off the vine when ripe and let them field cure for a day or two, then wash the outside with a rag and a mild vinegar water before drying with a clean rag. As long as they’re solid and unblemished they should last you many months. Keep dry and when January rolls around you should have plenty still.

But plain buttered squash gets pretty boring! Knowing the basics is a great start.If you want something just a little different, check out the rad recipe below for using up those squashes.

Squash prep for the real beginner:

This is a sure-fire way to cook nearly any squash. It’s delicious with butter or oil, a touch of salt, and any herbs and spices you want.

• Pre-heat oven to 400F

• Slice your squash into halves or quarters: Two halves open-side down will make a wetter cooked squash, and will take a bit longer. The same squash in quarters will do just the opposite on both, and give more flavor.

• Scoop out all the seeds and remove the stem. Place the chunks onto a flat cookie sheet and brush the inside with oil or butter. Sprinkle seasoning over.

• Bake in the oven checking every half-hour until a fork slides easily through the skin and fruit. The larger the squash, the longer it takes. Any un-evenly heating ovens will want the pan turned around 180 degrees half-way through.

• When finished, remove from oven and allow to cool or serve right out of the oven.

Creamy Winter Squash and Sweet Potato Soup     

This is an easy recipe, but can be very time consuming. It’s just fine to cook your squash and veggies before hand, and then throw the soup together in a half-hour at a later time. For best results, you’ll want some way to blend this soup, but it’s yummy as a chunky stew too. All animal products are optional!

1 large winter squash

Three medium sweet potatoes

4 or 5 cloves garlic

large onion

1 Quart home-made or store-bought stock

(I use veggie stock but a meat stock is fine)

green onions

Olive oil and

Butter (optional)

Can of coconut milk–or cup of milk or cream

Cheese (optional) I love goat cheese for this.

Salt, Pepper, Herbs and Spices to your taste.

This soup will fare just as well with curry powder as it will with green herbs like thyme, sage and oregano. I would add a touch or cumin and red pepper for spice if you chose herbs.

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Prepare your squash and roast according to instructions above.

Once that’s cooking: Cube sweet potatoes (peeled or intact), slice onions into large chunks, and rough chop garlic. Toss with plenty of oil and your choice of herbs and spices, salt and pepper in a baking or casserole dish. Get plenty of your seasoning in there – it’s for the whole soup. Might as well slice up the green onions now too so you have them for later.

Bake until sweet potatoes are soft, turning occasionally.

When your squash is finished set it out to cool a bit. You can scoop the fruit out of the skin while it’s still hot if you want, but it’s a struggle not to burn yourself. Scoop it all directly into a BIG soup pot and discard the skins.

Your veggies should be done by now, so dump that whole baking dish of veggies, spices, oil and everything right into the soup pot. Scrape out the bottom of the pan into the soup pot too.

Get your pot on high temp and dump in the stock. Cook for a while until everything is tender and mixed well. Now’s a good time to add some more oil or butter.

I LOVE love immersion blenders. Get your immersion blender out and go to town until everything is creamy. Leave some chunks of squash and veggie if you want to see them later.

If you’re using a good old-fashioned countertop blender, for the love of all that is green and good, be careful of hot things exploding out the top. You may want to cool the soup before putting it in the blender.

Really, you could just blend it up with a potato masher or a hand egg beater, or whatever method you use for pureeing things.

Return your soup to the pan if you took it out to blend, and put heat on low. Add coconut milk or dairy of your choice to the soup.

Taste test and salt or spice if still needed. If you must have meat, you can cook up some chunks while your squash is cooking and put those in now. It’s great with whole roasted cashews too. Add green onions to the pot, or garnish as you serve.

Serve hot with cheese on top!