We don’t exactly have much in the way of fall here in Hawaii, so looking at all the posts and pictures everyone’s putting up of their fall fashion, harvest treats, and beautiful leaves is filling me with nostalgia! You can keep the winter blahs, but one season I never, ever get tired of is fall, and I’m missing it!
It stays so hot here that I don’t really want to make a lot of my favorite fall treats {like my mulled apple cider, a good roasted turkey, or my loaded baked potato soup} but I do crave the full flavor of a good squash when I think of fall, so I started doing a little experimenting. First off, I spent some quality time at the farmer’s market and came home with some of these babies:
Acorn squash! They’re phenomenally sweet but with that distinctive squash taste you just crave when it’s a little bit rainy outside and you’re just willing the leaves to turn red. Come on, leaves…just a little. Is that a shade of red? Yellow even. I’ll take anything at this point! Okay, this is getting pathetic. I’m going to try to stop.
Anyway, this may not be what you think of as an ideal Hawaiian meal, but when you live up the side of the mountain and not down at the beach, we do get some cold rainy days up here that make this soup a perfect treat. It’s easy to make, it brings that little bit of fall with it when you make it, and on top of that, it’s delicious.
Curried Acorn Squash Soup
Makes 4 servings.
What you’ll need:
- 1-2 acorn squash
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 chopped shallots
- 1 quart chicken stock
- 2 tsp yellow curry powder
How to make it:
1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. Cut the squash in half through the stem and remove the seeds. Drizzle the cut edges with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and put them cut-side down on a baking sheet.
3. Roast them until they’re very soft {about 45 minutes should do it}. Take the try out of the oven and let them sit until they’re cool enough to handle {I left them alone for half an hour while I tasted wine and flipped through other recipes – that seemed to do the trick}.
4. Scoop the flesh from the shells, as shown above, and then discard the shelves.
5. In a large saucepan, heat two tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and sauté the shallots until they’re nice and soft. Add the acorn squash, chicken stock, and curry powder, and bring to a boil. After it’s nice and bubbly, reduce to a simmer.
6. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes, until the squash is nice and soft.
7. Blend the soup or use an immersion blender {I got a wonderful Kitchenaid immersion blender from my in-laws for my birthday, and I loved trying it out on this recipe!}.
8. Season the soup with salt and pepper and simmer for a few minutes over medium heat to marry up the flavors.
9. Serve and enjoy!
This soup is hearty, delicious, and very healthy! I wouldn’t add anything to it, but I’m not above drizzling some thinned creme fraiche over the soup in each bowl or sprinkling some toasted sliced almonds over the top for a little crunch. Try it out and let me know what you think!
And if you want more of my favorite recipes, visit the Challenge Accepted: Recipes page!