The first time I had this soup was after an afternoon spent tobogganing and tumbling in the snow with the kiddos. It was there on the stove for us, still warm from when a mysterious gnome had cooked it in our absence. While the kids chose a snack of popcorn to go with their movie that day, I warmed up over a bowl of this deliciously fresh tasting soup.
I’ve made it a few times on my own since then and this last time was no less magical. Though it was for different reasons – it was Christmas and I was drunk.
Scribbles
Here is the recipe, as written in my messy scrawl. This is how I write down all my recipes – ingredients on one side and the instructions on the other. It works sometimes.
First step is to roast your squash – 1 hour @ 375-400 works for me. Make sure you poke it first with a fork all over or you will spend the rest of the day scrubbing squash explosion off your oven walls. You can roast your squash a day or two before making the soup.
Now gather the rest of your ingredients.
Apples, onions, squash, stock, apple juice, curry powder, salt and pepper.
After you take a nice photo (or ten) of your pile of ingredients, it’s time to get chopping.
Wash your two apples.
Grannies
Peel ’em.
And dice.
Now grab yer onions. If you’ll be using vegetable stock, only use one onion because veggie stock is mostly onion.
And dice.
Now put a soup pot on medium heat. Toss in some butter or oil.
And melt it.
Now add your chopped apples.
And your diced onions.
And let them saute together for a few minutes, until they are translucent and soft.
Okay so this is the point when you start getting your squash ready. You’ve already roasted it, so it should be nice and soft. What you need to do, then, is peel it and chop it up a bit.
Beautiful Butternut
Now, before you really start chopping you need to remember something about squash in general. There are seeds and you should try to cut them out in an orderly fashion. I recommend cutting the large, round part of the squash off first and then cutting it in half, so you can scoop the seeds out with a spoon.
I don’t recommend forgetting completely that there are seeds in there. But sometimes, like when it’s Christmas and you’re on your third or fourth rum and coke you do forget these things. And you take a photo for your blog anyway.
Yep, that's a drunk kitchen.
So this is the part where I started getting distracted and forgetting the order of all the steps. The best part about soup? You can’t mess it up! If I didn’t mess it up when I was Christmas Drunk then seriously, you will not mess it up!
Don’t add the squash to the pot just yet. First you want your curry powder to heat up a bit. Like with cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper and some other spices, curry powder needs heat to really release the delicious flavours.
Measure a FULL tblsp of curry powder, unlike me.
Measure out a tablespoon of curry powder. Or, take another sip of your ron y coke and spill most of the curry powder all over your cutting board and squash bits, and estimate how much should be in the spoon. Remember that you love curry powder, it’s soup, and you don’t care. Christmas!
It's all going in the same pot anyway.
Once you’re finished laughing at yourself (and sloshing your drink all over the floor) add the curry powder to the pot of onions and apples, and let it warm up. Your kitchen will smell amazing.
Smells Fucking Awesome
Once the curry powder is smelling very fragrant, turn to your beautiful squash. You will now be adding it to the pot. Let’s all laugh together at my “beautiful squash.”
What a Monster
In it goes. Now add 1 cup of apple juice and 4 cups of stock (or one full box.)
Mid-Pour Shot. Aw YEAH!
And now let it all simmer for 10 minutes or so.
Add some salt and pepper now if you wish. After it simmers for 10 minutes, you’ll need to blend it. I use an immersion blender because I am lazy and it causes less dishes. Blend it up and taste. If it needs more salt and pepper add it now.
Butternut Squash Deliciousness
And there you are! You can serve it with a yogurt swirl if you like. I didn’t.
Congratulations, you made a totally delicious soup and it was so easy, right?
Now go pour yourself another drink.
Jess' Messes 