On Saturday mornings, I’m a bit of a creature of habit. Get that first cup of coffee poured and go sit down for a little quiet time in front of the computer. Might be Facebook or Pinterest, catching up on sports or recipe blogs, etc.
Yesterday I looked to my right and was reminded that we have quite a few butternut squash left from last summers garden. I popped up Pinterest and started looking around. I don’t know how many of you like that site but one of my favorite features is once you’re looking at a pin that interests you, there are magically related pins listed under it. The subjects meander around a bit but it tends to be where I find inspiration. That’s just what happened. I was looking around for a variation on the ginger-curry soup that I like to make with our butternut squash and one of those related posts was for a very traditional Thai red curry. It had nothing to do with squash, just a soup recipe. I read that and thought that I could come up with a good fusion of the two. Here’s what I came up with last night. I only used 6 ingredients but I think it might be one of my best creations so far.
- 2 butternut squash (about 3-4 lbs. each)
- 2 qts. chicken stock (vegetable stock if you prefer vegetarian)
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 can coconut milk (full fat)
- 3 Tbsp Thai red curry paste
- Salt to taste
Preheat oven to 350
I like to roast my vegetables before using in soups and sauces so that’s what I did here. I simply cut the butternut in half, sprinkled with a little bit of olive oil and salt and put them in the oven. It took a little over 30 minutes to roast to the point that I could easily scoop the pulp out of the skins. You can certainly do this ahead or use puree that you’ve made previously.
In a stock pot, I sauteed the onion over medium heat until translucent then added the stock to bring it up to a gentle simmer. I added the roasted squash, coconut milk and curry paste and salt to taste. I let it all simmer together for about 10 minutes then buzzed it up with the immersion blender. Super easy, super quick, super yummy!
I can see a ton of variations possible with this soup but as a base recipe, I can’t think of anything that I’d do different after trying it. I hope you try it and enjoy as much as I did.
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