The autumn cooking continues in our little home and squash is playing an important role. Not only is it so good for us, it is also very inexpensive which makes it a staple in in our house and even more so here. I can get a squash that will make up a good portion of at least two meals for our family for 1 or 2 dollars! We use various kinds to replace mashed potatoes, as ‘noodles’ with meat sauce, in soups and stews and even to make pancakes. Okay, enough of my raving. But, really, if you don’t eat squash you should try it. If your kids don’t like it, start by introducing it gently (hidden) in other things; mixed with mashed potatoes, chunks in a stew…you get the idea. Tonight’s dinner was this recipe. I started out planning a plain jane sort of squash soup but then caught sight of my basil and rosemary pots outside the door and so just went with it. It went over very well and so I thought it was worth sharing. Half of it served the two adults and two little ones tonight with the other half going into the freezer (minus the cream) for another day.
Note: A couple of years later, this remains a favorite!
Tomato Squash Soup with Rosemary and Basil
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1 Medium sized Squash (I used orange Kobacha which is similar to Butter Cup)
1 369 ml. Can Tomato Paste
4 c. Chicken Broth
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
¼ c butter (less if you like, we just like our butter)
1 tsp salt
5 fresh large finely chopped basil leaves (dried would work too, about 1 ½ tsp or so)
1 sprig rosemary (“” above, about ½ tsp)
1 tbs Honey
1 ½ c. Cream
- Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds if you want to save them or leave them in if not, and place facing up in a pan. I use a cake pan and add about half an inch of water to keep it moist. Bake at 350º for 45min -1 hour or until soft. Scoop the flesh out to be pureed.
- Saute diced onion and garlic in the butter until soft. Add in tomato paste, basil, rosemary, salt and honey. Saute briefly and add to food processor with squash and half of chicken broth.
- Food process or puree until smooth.
- Pour into large sauce pan and heat on medium to low heat. Add the remaining chicken broth and cream, stirring to make sure that it doesn’t stick.
- Serve with a sprinkle of fresh basil and Parmesan.
NOTES:
If you want to freeze a portion, reserve that portion and don’t add the cream before freezing. Add the cream when you are ready to use that portion.
If you wish this to be dairy free, just use another oil and add the equivalent or a little less in chicken broth. I do this with several of my cream soups depending on who I am serving to. I also will use milk instead of cream which makes it lighter and thinner as well.
Also, this is thicker than your regular tomato soup so that it is easier for little ones to eat; if it were only for adults, I would add more broth or milk which would take it a lot farther.
Any brilliant ideas or recipes involving squash that you are just dying to share? I would love to hear them as there a lot of days left on the fall and winter menu.
Linking up with Sunday Night Soups over at Red & Honey.
I just saw a recipe for stuffed squash. It was stuffed with ground beef, but maybe that will give you some inspiration to stuff it with something really good and healthy…..maybe I’ll try too!
Thanks Dana! I have been planning to do some kind of ground beef stuffed squash, but want to make it interesting, how do you think curried would be?
that looks really yummy… i think i will try it (but with acorn or butternut squash most likely).
Let me know how it turns out…I like to get other cooks opinions since sometimes I wonder if we have just gotten used to my cooking! And I think that any squash would be fine, the Kobacha(or Buttercup) is just a little bigger and a brighter orange.
I am trying this tonight, but with acron sqash and roasted tomatoes instead of paste. I think I’ll add some quinoa as my clan isn’t so fond of ‘plain’ soups. We’re having pork tender on with it. I am starting now and I’ll let you know how it goes!
Ok WOW! What a great soup! I hardly ever make soup cause my oldest doesn’t really like any soup and my hubby seems to only want it when he’s sick. Anyhow, I had roasted some nearly overripe tomatoes with basil and chunks of garlic the other day and needed to do something with them.So I added that to the onion & butter & rosemary then turned off when hot. I scooped the acorn squash right into the pot then added half the stock. I only have an immersion blender but this worked too, I just needed to gradually add more stock. Then I tossed in some left over quinoa and heated it through. Overall it turned out great and I will have to send you the picture of my baby eating it because she couldn’t get enough. Neither could I! Thanks Missy!!
** if you want to try it with the roasted tomatoes you could halve them in a casserole dish with chunks of garlic and the basil and pop them in the oven with the squash at the same time!
Yay! I am so glad that you liked it! I had thought about adding quinoa when I made it but thought it might seem strange but maybe now I will try it with the portion that I froze. Thanks for letting me know what you thought:).
Missy – thanks so much for sharing this recipe! I’ve made it twice now and absolutely love it – squash may quickly be becoming one of my favorite foods. I’ve posted the recipe for friends and have linked it to your blog. Thanks again!