Local Squash Yields Tasty Soup
November 24th, 2009 by Birgitte
After living in Hawaii for the past three years, I looked forward to having a real Oregon fall. While I enjoyed warm weather and fresh papaya, banana and pineapple, I did miss my fall favorites; the squash, pears, carrots and potatoes so readily available in Oregon.
To fulfill my fall needs I went to the Beaverton Farmer’s Holiday Market this past Saturday. The majority of the vendors were the summer regulars, with a few vendors selling holiday products. Smelling fresh pine greens from the vendor who sold holiday wreaths put me in the holiday spirit. Last Saturday was the final day for this year’s Beaverton Farmers Market, but the Hillsboro Winter Market is open every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. through December 12th and is located on Main Street between the Civic Center Plaza and the Courthouse.
There were so many varieties of squash available: Spaghetti, Carnival, Heart of Gold, Sweet Dumpling, Buttercup and Delicata–but I couldn’t bypass the butternut squash I needed to make my new favorite soup. This soup has great anti-inflammatory benefits and tastes great! Try it for yourself:
Curried Butternut Squash Soup
This recipe can be altered; the smaller amounts will yield a more mild soup.
1 T. olive oil
2 T-1/2 C onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
2 med. carrots, peeled and diced
2 t-1 T fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 -3 t yellow curry powder
1 Large Butternut squash, peeled and cubed (3 large yams or sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed, can be substituted)
1 t salt or to taste
1 qt. chicken broth
1 can lite coconut milk
Put the olive oil in a large pot and add the onions, garlic, carrots and ginger. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the onions become translucent and the carrots are softened. Stir occasionally.
Add the cubed butternut squash, salt, curry powder and chicken broth, adding water if necessary to cover the squash. Bring to a moderate boil, then reduce and simmer over low heat. Continue to simmer, covered, until squash is tender, about 15-25 minutes.
Remove the soup from the heat and stir in the coconut milk. Puree the soup with a hand-held immersion blender, or ladle the soup into a blender and puree in small batches. Use caution when pureeing hot soup—cover the blender lid with a towel, and push firmly on the lid.
Leftovers freeze well in Ziplock bags.
Tags: beaverton, farmers markets, recipe, squash
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 2:54 pm and is filed under Holiday, Seasonal Fun. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.