Not only did I have to buy extra squash, but I boiled the acorn squash in two batches while the kabocha squash was roasting. Go ahead and use extra kabocha squash if you can find small ones, or just use acorn squash for the soup part too.

The kabocha squash (the smallest I could find), weighed 4 pounds! Good thing I’ve been working out lately, because it took all my strength to cut them. If you have a cleaver, I’m jealous of you.

Recipe: Kabocha squash and mushroom soup
Makes 6 servings

Special equipment: Blender or immersion blender is necessary for velvety smooth soup. Otherwise, just use a potato masher and keep stirring.

Ingredients:

4 pound kabocha squash, quartered or cut into eighths (for faster cooking time)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Two 1 pound acorn squash
1 cups of baby portabella mushrooms, sliced
1/2 of a red onion, cut into thin slices
3 cups of chicken stock
1/2 cup of heavy cream
Dash of dry cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Heat oven to 375 F. Cut kabocha squash into 4 pieces, then remove insides and seeds. Lay on a baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over the tops of squash. Sprinkle with salt. Bake for 45-55 minutes (or until tender).

2. While the kabocha is roasting, prepare mushrooms and onions. If using acorn squash, use that time to boil them. Once kabocha is done roasting and has cooled, remove skin and roughly chop into large chunks.

3. Heat up a heavy bottomed pot with 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Over medium high heat, saute onions until translucent and glossy. It should take about 5-6 minutes. Add mushrooms. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Set aside.

4. Add squash pieces to the pot, then chicken stock. Bring to a boil then turn off from heat. (Leave the pot unwashed – you will need it again if using a regular blender).

5. In batches, blend the soup until smooth. Transfer back into the pot and slowly stir in heavy cream until well incorporated and the color has changed to a lighter hue. Add cinnamon. Add  salt and pepper if desired.

If using acorn squash: boil acorn squash in a large pot of boiling water. Cook for 35 minutes and remove from pot. Let cool. Then slice across the top, about 2″ from the stem. Using a pairing knife, scoop out the insides and seeds, leaving a large gap in the middle. (Add acorn squash to the soup to avoid waste.)

This recipe is inspired by my friend Cate, who told me that she makes Boston clam chowder at home. I am a HUGE fan of clam chowder, and though I’m a New Yorker, the tomato based Manhattan clam chowder doesn’t do it for me. I looked up a few recipes to get a general idea of what to include, then came up with this version. Just a warning: this soup is far from healthy. My version of the soup contains bacon, half and half, and butter. This recipe is starting to infringe on Paula Deen territory, no?

Overall, this is not a difficult dish to make, though a bit time consuming. One new thing I discovered was how to make roux. Roux is thickener made from flour and fat, and it often used in a variety of soups. When the roux became mashed potato-like, I started to panic because I wasn’t sure if that was supposed to happen. The soup turned out fine, so my guess is that it’s a-ok. But if you’re familiar with making roux, feel free to chime in.

Recipe: Boston Clam Chowder
Makes 10-12 servings

Ingredients:

4 white potatoes, cubed
2 medium sweet onions, minced
3 cups of diced celery
3 cups of vegetable stock
3 strips of bacon
4 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of all purpose flour
1.5 cups of half and half
2 10 oz. cans of whole clams
2 teaspoons of lemon juice
Dash of fresh cracked pepper
Dash of salt

Procedure:

1. Cook bacon  on non-stick skillet until well cooked, about 3-4 minutes on each side. Remove bacon from pan. Crumble and set aside.

2. In the skillet where you just cooked the bacon, add celery and onions. Cook until onion has a shiny texture, about 5 minutes.

3. Transfer cooked celery and onions in a large, heavy lidded pot. Add potatoes, juice from the clams, along with vegetable stock (enough to cover). Cover and cook over medium heat, for 20 minutes. Make sure the potatoes are cooked through. Keep the pot on very low heat.

4. In a separate pan over medium heat, melt butter. Once the butter has melted, add flour and stir. Keep stirring until the roux becomes a thick consistency. Add to the pot.

5. Slowly add clams and half and half to the pot. Add bacon. Set aside a few crumbles to use as garnish. Cook for 3-5 minutes over low heat. Finish with lemon juice, then salt and pepper. Serve with crackers or bread.

Thanks to readers Tom and Christina for pointing out that I had the wrong name of the squash in my last post. It’s good to know that my readers are paying attention!

As I mentioned before, this is the second dish that came out of all those  roasted vegetables. I realized that while kale, in all of its goodness, is a wonderful green vegetable, it can get a little bit bitter if you cook it for too long.

I added some of the squash mixture from my last post into this dish, giving the broth a slight orange color and contrasting the kale with a hint of sweetness. Some stewed tomatoes would also help cut the bitterness of the kale. The soup was also perfectly flavorful with a surprising kick of heat at the end, which I absolutely loove! Try making this with whatever vegetables you have on hand.

There was a collection of beautiful vegetables from my CSA share. I hate wasting food, so I wanted to make something to incorporate all of the goodies I had on hand. I asked for some squash suggestions on my Facebook fan page and one of them was a soup. (thanks!!)

My initial goal was to create roasted kale and butternut acorn squash soup. But after roasting and blending squash, garlic, onion and green pepper – I felt that it would be a waste of superb flavors to just dump it into the soup. So in one pot, I made a kale soup with chicken broth, roasted carrots and potatoes, and in another, was this soup. I added a hint of cream to finish.

This soup is jam packed with flavor, stemming from the flavors of the roasted vegetables. It is so yummy that I have a feeling that you’d want to make this soup at least five more times before squash season is over. It’s sweet, earthy with subtle hints of garlic and green pepper, juxtaposed with the cream, which adds a light creaminess.

Recipe: roasted butternut acorn squash soup
Makes 4-5 servings

Ingredients:

2 large pieces of acorn squash, cut into quarters with seeds removed (do not peel)
1/4 cup of chicken stock
1/2 of a green bell pepper, roasted
1/4 of an onion, roasted
3 tablespoons of heavy cream
3 cloves of garlic, roasted
Dash of cinnamon
Sprikle of salt and pepper

Procedure:

1. Heat oven to 450.

2. Cut squash into quarters. Sprinkle salt and pepper all over.

3. Bake in the oven for 1 hour. Some smaller pieces may cook faster than others. If so, feel free to remove after 30 minutes.

4. Using a spoon, scoop out the squash insides. Or use a knife to remove the skin, which should come out easily.

5. Puree vegetables in a blender until smooth.

6. Transfer content to a pot. Add chicken stock and heavy cream. Stir together. Cook on low heat for 5 minutes.

7. Sprinkle with cinnamon on top and serve.

I soaked dry beans overnight, then cooked it for about 2 hours before adding the other ingredients. But feel free to use canned beans to save time. What are some of your favorite winter soups?

This is a post about being patient.

I had read somewhere that you can take leftover bones and make stock with it. The only problem was, I didn’t have internet access all weekend, so I couldn’t look it up to be sure. So what did I do? I just winged it.

I used the leftovers from my last post to create this delicious stock. It only took about 4 hours to make. Who would have guessed that it would take so long?

If you’re like me and don’t have four continuous hours to spare, do it in batches. I ended up working on this for about an hour, on three separate occasions, in the span of two days. Talk about patience!

Notice the little spots on the side of the bowl? It’s bothering me! I should have wiped it down with a napkin. Or Photoshop it out now. But instead of fixing it, I will purposefully leave it there and try to be cool with it. After all, a few spots never hurt anyone!

So I decided to make this for my friends the other night because the weather is getting colder. And since I had a meat dish to go with this, I made it vegetarian cuz I don’t really like ground beef that much anyway.

Something to note - I made a mistake and added too much cayenne pepper in the end, which made me feel really bad for my friends who don’t like spicy stuff. I just dusted a healthy amount instead of measuring it out. Lesson learned – don’t experiment when you have people over!

I had whole cumin seeds so I used my coffee grinder to grind it up. After grinding, I had a lot more than I started with, not to mention fresher flavor. It got me thinking… what other spices can I buy whole, then grind myself?