Goodby Old Squash.

The last butternut squash of the year from Freedom Farm was an eight pound monstrosity that apparently no one else wanted. I gave the thing a home and have seemingly been eating it ever since. Part of it was roasted up with the chickpea cutlets below, part of it became baby food and the final vestiges of the thing were roasted and turned into this soup.

Kinda Curried Butternut Squash Soup
Adapted from Alfred Portale, Simple Pleasures (2004)

• 2.5 pounds of roasted squash—Portale specifically says not to avoid butternut in favor of a kabocha or a pumpkin instead, but what the hell …
• 1 medium onion, diced
  
• 1 stalk of celery, diced
• 1.5 tsp. of fenugreek, toasted in a skillet, then ground in a mortar
• 2-3 cloves, ground in a mortar
• 1 Tbs. ginger, peeled and microplaned into a pulp
• 1 clove garlic
• About 3 Cu. of veggie stock
• 1 crisp apple, peeled, cored, diced and left to sit in some lemony water
  
• A handful of pepitas, toasted in a skillet
• Chopped chives

The ingredients sort of speak for themselves here. Saute the onion and celery a bit, then add the spices and saute a little further. Add the squash and enough stock to make soup. Simmer it for a while and then go at it with an immersion blender until it is smooth. Garnish with the apples, pepitas and chives.

I just glanced at this recipe, noted the basic ingredients and then made the soup later when the recipe was no longer available to me. I think the amounts might need a bit of tinkering with, but the flavors are a good mix. I see now that adding diced fresh apples as a garnish to squash soup is old hat, but it's new to me. In any event the apples make the whole thing work and the pepitas add a needed crunch to the squash. Also, he might be right about ditching the butternut for a less sweet squash.

With the baby food in the freezer, this monster squash may be with us until summer!