Adventures with Squash: part 2

My mistake of years of indifference towards these seasonal gourds has now been fully realized. At this point in my journey through the wonderful world of gastronomy, the fall/winter squashes have revealed themselves as robust, complex, and versatile in flavor (as well as being a great value in price). Many recipes hold up well with either a butternut, acorn, or cooking pumpkin depending on your mood or availability. This being said, I could make the case for each squash's distinct flavor and why one rather than the other is more fit for a specific recipe or flavor profile. For the sake of this post, I will refer mostly to the butternut as I see it as the utility fielder on the squash roster.

My first success came by creating a flavorful soup that was seriously college-budget and made for great soup leftovers for days (thus saving more money) total about 6-8 servings. My recipes tend to be a bit heavier on the spicy stuff compared to this, more tame model.

Curried butternut squash and lentil soup:

1 goods sized butternut ($0.99/lbs)-peel/clean and cut into inch cubes

1 large yellow onion ($0.99/lbs)-leave in a rustic chop

2 tsp garlic, minced (from pantry)

3/4 cups lentils, dry ($1.50/bag)-about 1/4 of the bag

6 cups water or stock-enough to cover all combined ingredients

2 tsp curry powder (pantry)

1 tsp crushed red peppers (pantry)-actually harvested from my pepper plant back home

2 tsp cumin (pantry)

1 tsp chili powder (pantry)

1 tsp paprika (pantry)

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (pantry)

salt and pepper

Soften your onions in a bit of olive oil at the bottom of your stock pot on medium heat 6-8 minutes. Salt and add the garlic near the end. Add squash and spices, stir for a minute then add water/stock (depending on how spicy you like it, can also try a considerable amount of regular black pepper). Bring to a boil then reduce and let simmer about 35 minutes until squash is tender. In a separate pot, cover lentils in water and bring to boil for about 25 minutes. After squash is cooked through, ladle in batches into a blender/food processor and blitz to a fine puree. Tip, do not use coffee mug to transfer hot liquid if ladle is unavailable. Go buy a ladle. Return pureed squash to stock pot and re season to taste. Strain cooked lentils and add to squash soup on low heat.

Notes: Some people like their soup all smooth; I found the added texture as well as nutrition of the lentils enhanced the soup to where it feels more like a meal. Notice no heavy cream, no bacon , in fact no meat at all. A seriously healthy vegetarian dish that could be a good starter to a fall meal. Lentils add fiber and protein, nothing wrong with onions, and talk about beta carotene with the squash. Not counting the spices, the soup coast about $7.

Beer: You would think the best fit would be a fall seasonal pumpkin beer. I would disagree on the basis that squash is already represented and any good pumpkin beer is lost next to the soup. A few fall seasonal or Marzen(Octoberfest) can go well but I found those to be hit or miss due to the bold curry spices. My favorite pairing was Smutty Nose Farmhouse Ale: full flavored but light bodied. It is pretty heavily herbed and spiced which holds up well to the bold curry as well as complimenting the fall flavor of the squash, but other farmhouse/Saisons would work in place as well as select fall releases.

I came away from multiple attempts at squash soup that finally yielded this recipe with the sense that there are numerous individual variations that could be applied to change or enhance the flavor profile of this recipe, which is a testament to the sturdiness of the butternut. What the future holds, who knows. Perhaps beer will be incorporated into the actual recipe. Maybe squash will be considered as an addition to my chili recipe, but probably not. None the less, it has more than redeemed itself and urned a place on my fall menu.