Three Squash Soup

 

This is officially the easiest recipe I have ever posted on the blog.  It's so easy, that it shouldn't really taste this good, but it does.  It's so easy that I feel a little guilty taking blogger credit for it...like I should be working harder for you, or something.

As you know from last weekend's post, I turned my kitchen into a squash laboratory.  Making careful charts, graphs, and figures that evaluated squash variables like texture and sweetness, I concluded that your standard acorn squash is best for mid-range sweetness and texture integrity (it will hold up well tossed in a salad).  The other three squash under the microscope were gold acorn, white acorn, and butternut.  The remaining three were roasted and put into this soup.  The butternut was by far the sweetest, and the white acorn by far the "breadiest," so those two went in to combine a sweet flavor with a rich and creamy texture.  The gold acorn was pretty bland, but yielded valuable meat to add bulk to the soup.

Combined, the three squashes were really tasty.  Of course, you could work with one squash (and I suppose I'd go with the tried-and-true butternut).  Just that, some stock, and coconut milk will get you some delicious fall soup.  If you want a recipe for spicing and toasting the seeds for garnish, check out the last post for Roasted Acorn Squash and Pomegranate Farro Salad. 

Ingredients (makes about 4-5 servings):

• 1 butternut squash
• 1 gold acorn squash
• 1 white acorn squash
• 1-2 cups vegetable stock (depending on squash size, and how thick you want the soup)
• 1/4 cup light coconut milk
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• salt for seasoning

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  

Halve each squash, scoop out the seeds (and saving them for toasting), and then slice into 1-1 1/2 inch thick crescents.

Spread the squash on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet and coat lightly with the olive oil.  Season with salt.  Roast for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown (turning once mid-way through baking).

When the squash has cooled from the oven slightly, spoon off the meat from the skin.

In a medium to large pot, bring the meat of all the squash and 1 1/2 cups of vegetable stock to a boil.  Turn the heat to low and stir in the coconut milk.

Remove from heat to puree the soup.  You can use an immersion blender, or transfer everything to a traditional blender.  Blend until smooth, adding any additional stock to achieve the consistency you like.  I found the soup seasoned well enough with the salt from the roasting, but add salt if desired.