Vindaloo squash soup – Table for Two

Kymberly Pye, today’s Guest-clacker, lives in Los Angeles with her husband and four-legged children. When she’s not in the kitchen, she’s knitting or crocheting or hiking in the desert. Her favorite food is ketchup. www.kimberlypye.blogspot.com

Often the victim of making rash purchases based on the weirdness of a vegetable, I bought an acorn squash the other day with absolutely no idea what to do with it. I could cook it and mash it up Thanksgiving-style, but that’s hardly a meal for couple like us.

I scoured the Web for recipes, and like that one, everything seemed so Thanksgiving-y. Baked squash. Grilled squash. Stuffed squash. Squash as a centerpiece. But squash soup sounded great! The only problem was that every recipe called for fatty creams, chicken stock (we’re vegetarians), and loads of sugar.

I wanted something healthy and filling, so I studied a few different theories on squash soup and made up my own recipe.

For dinner we had Vindaloo Squash Soup with flat bread. There was just enough left over the next day for lunch. I mixed in some leftover rice from a couple days before, and the hearty meal was still free of sugar and excessive fat.

Feel free to leave out the Vindaloo seasoning if you’re not into that kind of thing. I tasted it before adding it, and the soup was just as delicious without it.

Vindaloo Squash Soup for Two

Ingredients:

• 1 acorn squash
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1 small head of garlic (about 10 cloves)
• 3 cups of vegetable broth
• 2 teaspoons Vindaloo seasoning (My favorite is from Penzeys Spices, www.penzeys.com.)
• 1 bay leaf

Super easy directions:

1. Roast the vegetables: Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. (Clean them off and later on you can put them in a frying pan with some olive oil and salt. I dare say they’re even better than pumpkin seeds, as are Debbie’s roasted butternut squash seeds.) Place the cut sides down on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil. Peel and quarter the onion and wrap the whole head of garlic in tin foil, flaky wrapping and all. Place the onion and garlic on the pan and bake at 350°F for about 45 minutes, until the squash is nice and soft. Set aside to cool.
2. While the vegetables are cooling, you can toast those seeds if you want. You can also prepare the broth if you need to. I used one Rapunzel Vegan Vegetable Bouillon with Sea Salt dissolved in 3 cups of water (even though the RVVB directions call for 2 cups of water).
3. When the vegetables are cool enough to touch, scoop the squash out of the skin and into a food processor. (I used my Magic Bullet a few loads at a time. Don’t worry about getting everything mixed together in even proportions. It’s all going to the same pot in the end.) Add the onions. Squeeze the garlic out of their skins. You may want to remove the little green sprout in the center. Add those to the processor and mash it all up until it’s smooth. You may need to add some of your broth to achieve this.
4. Put your soup goop in a saucepan over medium to high heat. Add the broth, Vindaloo seasoning, and bay leaf. Cook just until the edges start to bubble, stirring constantly.
5. Reduce to low heat and cook an additional 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Remove the bay leaf, serve, and enjoy!

Clacked by Guest Clacker
on Apr 10, 2009 @ 10:06 EST5EDT