Sarah Jackson, The Herald’s Eco Geek blogger, is taking part in the Dark Days Challenge, which encourages home cooks to make one meal a week with local ingredients November through March.
Squash, I have heard, is an eat-local mainstay that becomes tiresome quickly for people who eat seasonally.
But because I’m new to eating local and because I rarely cook, winter squash is a complete novelty.
Also, when I was trying to think of ideas for Week 3, I knew I could rely on a tried-and-true squash soup recipe used every fall by certain high-ranking members of The Herald’s features staff.
It’s known as “the squash soup” — emphasis on “the” — a puree of fall vegetables lightly seasoned with curry.
It’s delicate yet full flavored, delicious yet almost fat free, just the thing for lunch or dinner on these chilling fall days when you’re trying to keep holiday weight at bay.
It’s an easy recipe to tweak, double and even freeze. And, honestly, it’s hard to mess up, I found, even for new cooks like me.
Though I had purchased local ingredients for the soup at the farmers market — winter squash, cauliflower, potatoes, onions — I was at a loss when it came to broth.
I had hearty meat stock from the market and had made my own turkey stock after Thanksgiving, but I worried both would overpower the subtle flavor of the squash.
I decided to make my own vegetable stock, adapting a simple “Joy of Cooking” recipe, with farmers market celery, turnips, parsnips, carrot, onion and shallot, plus non-local dried herbs.
It was, therefore, a three-night process. I roasted the squash — a butternut and a kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) — the first night, made stock the second and threw it all together to make soup on the third.
I brought a double batch to work the next day in a crock pot and served it, in lieu of local green onions, with chives from Herbco International of Duvall (which I later found out were from Israel), multigrain seed bread from a place I hadn’t heard of until this week, Wild Wheat Bakery &Restaurant of Kent, and Golden Glen Creamery butter from Bow, my most used local product to date.
All was tasty! I found the soup to be a bit watery, so I might hold back a bit on the liquids next time.
I think the part I liked most about this week’s challenge was making stock. It’s such a slow, earthy process, ideal for fall, when it makes sense to have a pot on the stove, simmering and smelling up the house.
Also, pureeing the squash was an epiphany. I had never used our handheld immersion blender before — we’ve mostly used it with the whisk attachment to make whipped cream — and my mind was blown.
I was able to puree the hot soup in about two minutes (!) without any sloppy blender transfers.
If you’ve been wanting an immersion blender, use this recipe as an excuse to do it. You won’t be disappointed.
This week, I’m not going to adapt the recipe to show the ingredients that I used, but I’ll tell you everything I cooked with was local except for the dried herbs, olive oil, sweet curry powder from Penzeys and some non-essential sour cream for garnish.
If squash soup isn’t for you, I highly recommend you check out urbanhennery.com, where you can read Dark Days Challenge updates from more than 75 bloggers from around the country.
They’re making all kinds of cool stuff and you’ll find a wealth of truly amazing ideas, plus local connections and inspiring stories of eating SOLE (sustainably, locally, organically, ethically).
Next week: With a salmon dish and two soups under my belt, it’s time to do some meat. Sausage? Lamb? I just remembered that www.spud.com delivers Thundering Hooves meats, so things are looking good.
Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037, sjackson@heraldnet.com.
The Squash Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 pear or apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
8 cups chicken or vegetable broth
3 cups butternut squash (see note)
1 russet potato, cut in pieces
1 head cauliflower, separated in florets
2 teaspoons curry powder or more
1 cup sour cream (or less)
3 green onions, diced
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large soup pot on medium heat. Saute onion, celery and chopped pear for 4 minutes.
Add curry powder and stir for a minute.
Add 6 cups broth, increase heat and bring to a boil.
Add squash, potato and cauliflower. Bring back to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until soft.
Puree in batches in the blender or with a hand-held immersion or stick blender. It’s much easier with a stick blender because there’s no messy pouring and the soup stays in the pot.
Reheat. Thin if desired with more broth, up to 2 cups. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with chopped green onions.
Makes 8 to 10 servings.
Note: Butternut squash is difficult to peel and cut up when raw. Try roasting it at 350 degrees until it’s soft.
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