Vegetable Gumbo

Disclaimer:  I’ve never had real gumbo, so I can’t rate this as a gumbo (and am not sure how thick it was supposed to get), but as a soup it’s rather nice.   Step one:  search three stores for okra before finally finding some in a Whole Foods freezer.   Step two:  throw some oil, onion, & celery and cook for a few minutes before dumping in a can of diced tomatoes, corn, okra, and some diced potatoes.  Add some vegetable stock and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are soft and the aforementioned thickening has occurred (about 30 minutes, they tell me).  Add hot sauce to taste.

Butternut Squash & Pasta Soup

Last of the butternut recipes . . . until I buy more butternut.  I wasn’t sure there was room for three squash soups in my life, but there is — saute some onion with olive oil in a pan, then add diced squash and stir it around for about two minutes.  In goes a quarter cup of white wine until that’s bubbled up, then about 2 cups of stock and a bay leaf.  Simmer for about 10 minutes before adding some pasta (I used and enjoyed orzo) and turn up the heat until that’s done.  Lovely.

Happiness Soup

Was very happy, once it was finally done.  I used a “harvest rice blend” I had on hand that included basmati, but wasn’t just basmati, so the rice wasn’t cooked when Nigella thought it would be.  Surely it was the rice because she would never leave me astray.  The yellow squash (no more butternut for awhile) help up really well to the extra cooking time, but the broth disappeared and left me with more of a risotto.  I’m not a huge broth fan anyway, so it worked.

The flavor was as happy as promised, but what was really a ray of sunshine was the finished color — the turmeric (which I may have thrown in rather than just measured like a normal person trying a recipe for the first time) did some fabulous things for the rice and what was, I must admit, a rather uninspiring yellow squash.

Actual recipe:

Gingered Butternut Squash Soup

This soup is made of awesome.  And squash.  And some ginger and broth and onion and spices and a wee bit of heavy cream if you wish.  I did wish, but could have easily have done without it because the soup is so thick and lovely on its own.  Maybe would have been a bit more generous with the spices, but that could have been the cream calming it down.  Perhaps less onion would help.

I was afraid it would be too time-intensive, because the prep time includes 1/2 hour of roasting the halved and seeded squash at 375, but it’s the easiest thing in the world.  Roast the squash and walk away from it until you’re ready to heat up the rest in a saucepan (minus any cream).  Throw it all in a food processor and puree it, then mix in the cream right before serving.  Takes about 5 minutes of actual work, but spend an extra few minutes making pretty garnish because the color of pureed squash can be problematic.

Actual recipe: