Curried Roast Butternut Squash Soup

Who's excited for a long weekend? I sure am! Even though I'm going to be studying all weekend for an upcoming exam, I am still super excited to be able to sit in my Lu Lu Lemon comfy clothes and study instead of getting dressed up for work and putting on a full face of makeup! Plus, my coffee at home is so much better than the office coffee! ;)

I made this amazing butternut squash soup last night for dinner (I pre-roasted the squash the night before so cooking up a batch of soup last night took no time at all!!) and I'm so excited about this recipe that I'm sharing it with you the day after. I'm pretty sure that has never happened on this blog! Usually I'm all about the procrastination.

I just did a random google search for roasted butternut squash soup, but it was so hard to find a recipe that a) wasn't full of whipping cream or some other high fat substance that adds creaminess to the soup or b) looked like it would be full of flavour. So many of the recipes were just squash, broth, salt, pepper and whipping cream. And thats okay... I guess... but I wanted something more. Then I stumbled across an old post on Jen's blog Food&Whine. Jen is a fellow Canadian so of course she had maple syrup in her butternut squash soup recipe! I made a couple small changes, but mostly followed her recipe because it sounded so good!

Curried Roast Butternut Squash Soup
Recipe adapted from Food&Whine

Ingredients:

• 2 butternut squash


• 1 tbsp grapeseed oil


• 1 small onion, finely chopped


• 1 tbsp butter


• 1 litre of chicken stock (about 4 cups)


• 1/3 cup light cream


• pinch of cinnamon


• 1 tsp curry powder (I used hot)


• 1 heaping tsp cumin


• salt and black pepper to taste


• 1/3 cup of maple syrup or to taste

Method:

1. The night before: cut each squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and the stringy parts. Preheat the oven to 375F. Rub the cut side of the squash with some of the oil, then grease a 9x13 inch pan with the remainder of the oil. Place the squash cut side down in the pan and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes to one hour or until the squash is tender. Cool until you can safely handle the squash. Scrape into a container and place in the fridge overnight.


2. The day of: In a large saucepan, melt the butter and saute the onions until they are soft and just about starting to brown. Add the squash you roasted last night and cover with the chicken stock. You can add more if you like a thinner soup, but I liked it with the one litre of stock. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.


3. Add the maple syrup, salt and pepper, curry, cumin and cinnamon. Stir well. Transfer to blender and blend in batches until silky smooth. Return to the saucepan. If you want to be virtuous, eat it at this point. If you want a tiny bit of decadence, stir in the light cream (as much or as little as you like really). Heat over low heat until soup is warmed through. Don't bring it back to a boil now that you've added the cream though.


4. Serve with a dallop of sour cream and some more maple syrup drizzled on top. Also, it doesn't hurt to make some yummy biscuits or bread for dipping.

Hope you enjoy this recipe and your long weekend!

Happy Cooking my Friends!

Chipotle Hummus

In May my mom gave me a hand-me-down food processor as part of my birthday present. Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I greatfully accepted the gift and was excited to try out all of the recipes I had been avoiding due to not having a food processor. The first thing I tried was hummus. Since then I have tried nearly every single hummus recipe in all of my cookbooks. I have never been one to cook without a recipe, but I'm now proud to say I am comfortable enough with making hummus that I have been making it without a recipe. My latest experiment is Chipotle Hummus. I've nailed down a recipe for it - made by me! Please try it out and let me know how it turns out. Feel free to add more or less of the ingredients to taste. :) Homemade hummus is sooo much better than anything you can buy from the store and if you make it regularly and stock the required ingredients, it's also far more economical!

Chipotle Hummus

Recipe by Erin Reimer

Ingredients:

Combine the following ingredients in a food processor:

• 1 can chickpeas
• 3-5 tbsp lime juice
• 3-5 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp coarse salt
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 chipotle peppers
• 3 tbsp adobo sauce

Whirl in food processor until smooth, adding more olive oil as needed to produce a nice smooth hummus. For a lower fat option add more water instead of olive oil as machine is running.

Enjoy!