butternut squash soup with ginger and coconut

Try this experiment:

Cut a whole squash in half, lengthwise, and look at the flesh. See how it glistens and practically sparkles? Now compare it to the pre-cut stuff in containers or bags. No glisten. No sparkle. Dry at best, turning mushy at worst.

So come on! Go for it! Let’s tackle this thing. It’s really not hard to peel and cut. It’s so much more flavorful. And it’s so much cheaper!

There are so many recipes for butternut squash soup out there, even ones that use ginger and coconut milk, that I hesitated to add another one to the collection. That said, my version is so fabulous that I’d be doing my readers a disservice if I neglected to share it. Once you try it, it will be the only one you’ll use. If you’re looking for a butternut soup with more European flavors, I’ll give you my recipe for that one, too.

Many recipes have you cut everything up, toss it all in a pot, and turn on the heat. This is fast and easy and will produce a respectable soup. But it won’t be fabulous. To get to fabulous, we need to build flavors. We want to coax every bit of flavor out of every one of our ingredients.

I like adding cream to my butternut soup. It makes it silky smooth and, well, creamy. Depending upon the flavor profile I’m going for, I sometimes use sweet dairy heavy cream. Sometimes I use sour cream or yogurt. In this soup, I’m using coconut milk.

Many recipes that have you roast the squash want you to cut it in half, drizzle it with olive oil, roast it in the oven, and then scrape the flesh from the shell. That’s better than just tossing it into the pot without roasting. But if you really want to get that roast-y flavor from your butternut, you need to cut it up before you roast it. More surface area equals more roastiness. (not a word). And since we’re using coconut milk in the soup, we might as well use coconut oil and intensify that flavor. And coconut oil is a healthy oil.

Whether you use just a pinch, or a bit more than a pinch, the addition of some hot pepper really ramps up the flavor. I love Aleppo pepper. It’s got a kick, but not so much as red pepper flakes, and it has a nice smokiness. Syria said it’s ok for Asia to borrow some for this soup.

You’re going to make this soup your own, balanced to your taste.

 So let’s get started.

Ingredients:

• 1 large Butternut Squash - about 4 lbs

• 1 large yellow or white onion

• 2-3 garlic cloves

• 4 cups chicken or no-chicken stock

• 1 tsp of fresh ginger, grated

• 1/2 tsp of ground cardamom

• Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes, to taste.

• 1 can full fat coconut milk

• Kosher salt and pepper to taste

• optional garnishes (scroll to the bottom)

To prepare the squash:

Preheat the oven to 425°.

• Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.

• To me, this is the easiest way to peel and cut the squash. On a heavy cutting board with a heavy chef’s knife, cut off the stem. That will make it easier to cut.

• Cut the squash in half, lengthwise.

• Using a melon baller or a spoon, scoop out all the seeds and hairy stuff.

• Optional: wash the seeds and set them to dry on paper towels, if you’d like to roast them (yum).

• Cut the squash in half horizontally, separating the long skinny end from the round end with the cavity.

• Then, cut each piece in half, vertically, again.

• Now, the pieces will be more manageable to peel.

• Using a vegetable peeler, peel the skin off your squash pieces.

• Cut the peeled squash into one-to-two-inch pieces.

• Put the squash pieces on the parchment-lined pan. Sprinkle them very lightly with kosher salt.

• Stop to admire your sticky orange hands.

• In order to draw out the sugars and let the squash to caramelize, you need to add some fat to them.

• This might sound a bit messy, but trust me, it’s the best way to make sure every bit of every piece is dressed with oil, without using too much and making them greasy.

• Put a about a tablespoon of coconut oil into the palm of one hand. Rub your hands together a bit to warm and melt the oil, and massage it gently onto the squash pieces.

• Now go wash and dry your hands. See how nice and soft your hands are? Coconut oil is good for the body, inside and out.

• Slide the pan into the oven and roast the squash until it begins to pick up color. It will take somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour for this to happen.

Now let’s make soup.

• In a soup pot, warm the other tablespoon of coconut oil. Sauté the chopped onion in the oil until it begins to caramelize, then add the garlic and the ginger. Sauté for another minute. Add the stock, the cardamom, the hot pepper, and the roasted squash. Simmer the soup over medium/low heat for about 30 minutes.

• Purée the soup. The easiest way is with an immersion blender. This one is a monster and it’s so far lasted longer than any one I’ve ever had. You can also purée it in a food processor in batches.

• Stir in the coconut milk and a squeeze of lime, then re-heat the soup until it’s nice and hot.

• Taste the soup. You may need to add salt, depending upon the saltiness of your stock. If it tastes flat, it wants salt. If you’d like it to be a bit sweeter (that’s a personal taste), add a teaspoon of coconut sugar or light brown sugar, stir to dissolve, and taste again. You can keep adding sugar, a teaspoon at a time, until it tickles your fancy. Add another squeeze of lime, if you’d like. If the soup is too thick (again, personal. I like it thick-ish, but not like porridge) add a little more stock until it’s to your liking.

• Ladle the soup into individual bowls.

Now you can get creative. Here are some ideas …

• Swirl in a spoonful of coconut cream into each bowl.

• Garnish with roasted pumpkin seeds, either in their shells, or shelled (pepitas)

• Sprinkle on some toasted coconut

• Decorate with chopped cilantro

• Pomegranate arils