Hello there everybody,
My last post was all about finally breaking into the first of our stored massive Hubbard squash. I received a request for my recipe for squash soup. I am sorry there are no photos but you will get the idea. :)
I must tell you that most of my soup recipes are of the "fly by the seat of your pants or kitchen sink" variety.
If you read my blog regularly you already know how I feel about wasting food. It is something about which I feel very strongly.
When it is time to make soup in our house (which is about once a week or so), I simply go through the fridge to see what I can use. When I made that Hubbard Squash soup I did the very same thing. Here is what went into it.
First of all, I usually make my own stock. As you could see from one of the photos, there is a carton of Organic Chicken stock there. I had run out of stock and also run out of chicken bones so had to resort to a rare purchase of stock. I did do a blog post some time ago all about making stock. It is dead easy and very economical.
We will assume that you have some stock on hand, either chicken or vegetable is you prefer not to consume meat, homemade or purchased.
In a large pot I saute an onion or two with a couple sticks of chopped celery and a couple of carrots cut finely in a bit of olive oil. Cook over low heat until nicely softened and just a tiny bit coloured around the edges. You do not want to really brown the veg as it will change the taste of the soup.
At this point I add the stock and give it a good stir around and bring to the boil. You want to scrape up all the yummy bits that may be stuck to the bottom of the pot. That is where all the flavour is.
Since we were dealing with the squash I knew that was going into the soup. In my fridge I had a nice big bunch of rapini (or broccoli rabe). I used half of the bunch and saved the rest for a pasta dish. Pick off any yellowed leaves and cut a tiny bit off the dried stems at the bottom. Give it a good wash, chop up and add to the stock, along with the squash which is cut into chunks about 1" square or so. You could use whatever sort of greens you happen to have in the house. I often use cabbage, broccoli, kale, chard or spinach. It all works.
I decided to add some egg noodles to give the soup some extra body so toss in a couple handfuls of that as well. It only takes about 10 minutes to cook and then dinner is on the table. Sometimes I use Orzo or even rice instead of the noodles. I even use tortellini once in a while as that really ups the body of the soup.
The point of this soup is that it is dead easy to make and can use up all the stuff that would otherwise turn into a science project in the back of your fridge. And the best bonus of all.... it tastes fantastic.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a tremendous day. Cheers.
~ Melanie ~
My last post was all about finally breaking into the first of our stored massive Hubbard squash. I received a request for my recipe for squash soup. I am sorry there are no photos but you will get the idea. :)
I must tell you that most of my soup recipes are of the "fly by the seat of your pants or kitchen sink" variety.
If you read my blog regularly you already know how I feel about wasting food. It is something about which I feel very strongly.
When it is time to make soup in our house (which is about once a week or so), I simply go through the fridge to see what I can use. When I made that Hubbard Squash soup I did the very same thing. Here is what went into it.
First of all, I usually make my own stock. As you could see from one of the photos, there is a carton of Organic Chicken stock there. I had run out of stock and also run out of chicken bones so had to resort to a rare purchase of stock. I did do a blog post some time ago all about making stock. It is dead easy and very economical.
We will assume that you have some stock on hand, either chicken or vegetable is you prefer not to consume meat, homemade or purchased.
In a large pot I saute an onion or two with a couple sticks of chopped celery and a couple of carrots cut finely in a bit of olive oil. Cook over low heat until nicely softened and just a tiny bit coloured around the edges. You do not want to really brown the veg as it will change the taste of the soup.
At this point I add the stock and give it a good stir around and bring to the boil. You want to scrape up all the yummy bits that may be stuck to the bottom of the pot. That is where all the flavour is.
Since we were dealing with the squash I knew that was going into the soup. In my fridge I had a nice big bunch of rapini (or broccoli rabe). I used half of the bunch and saved the rest for a pasta dish. Pick off any yellowed leaves and cut a tiny bit off the dried stems at the bottom. Give it a good wash, chop up and add to the stock, along with the squash which is cut into chunks about 1" square or so. You could use whatever sort of greens you happen to have in the house. I often use cabbage, broccoli, kale, chard or spinach. It all works.
I decided to add some egg noodles to give the soup some extra body so toss in a couple handfuls of that as well. It only takes about 10 minutes to cook and then dinner is on the table. Sometimes I use Orzo or even rice instead of the noodles. I even use tortellini once in a while as that really ups the body of the soup.
The point of this soup is that it is dead easy to make and can use up all the stuff that would otherwise turn into a science project in the back of your fridge. And the best bonus of all.... it tastes fantastic.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a tremendous day. Cheers.
~ Melanie ~
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