Eat Local // Sweet Butternut Squash Soup

Would you believe that when I started this blog back in 2009, I had absolutely no idea what it meant to cook seasonally? I’d go to the grocery store, pick up whatever looked good that week, and make whatever recipes interested me at the moment. Instant gratification at its finest. I can’t really blame myself, though. That’s how the store system is set up -- we can have it all if we want, whenever we want.

After I had immersed myself in the food world for a couple years and honed my own cooking skills, I had a sort of awakening. Or maybe it was a pretty fundamental mind shift certainly also sparked by books like Plenty (100 Mile Diet), Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and more. I started to understand where my food actually comes from and why it’s not exactly natural, for example, to slice fresh tomatoes onto my plate in the dead of a Northeast winter. I also discovered the world of CSA shares, local farmers, and buying more eats -- like eggs, honey, milk, etc. -- from nearby sources. 

I can’t say I eat locally 100 percent of the time. After all, we shamelessly stash bananas and avocados in our cart at Aldi on a weekly basis. We favor our local cafes and restaurants, but still go through the Panera drive through in a pinch. And -- yes -- I heartily eat up those supermarket tomatoes for a subpar taste of summer even on the coldest January afternoon. In my opinion, it’s all about balance and trying and budget and trying some more.

This soup was actually inspired by one of those Panera quickie experiences. They have an autumn squash soup on the menu that’s sickeningly sweet -- I knew I could do better at home using local ingredients. The butternut squash, onions, and garlic came from our farm share this week and the biggest, juiciest Honey Crisp apples came from a local orchard. There’s a satisfaction knowing these foods were grown on our native soil. There’s a soulfulness in knowing and caring for the people who work so hard to nourish us throughout the seasons. 

And eating locally just tastes better -- there’s no denying that.

SWEET BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

Makes around 4 quarts -- that’s 16 cups!

What you’ll need . . . 

• 3 medium butternut squashes
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1 bulb (or 4 huge cloves) of garlic, chopped
• 2-3 large apples, chopped 
• Water*
• Cinnamon, to taste
• Sea salt + black pepper

*Alternatively, you can use vegetable broth. We’re just out and trying to spend $0 on food this week, which I’ll write more about in another post.

Method . . . 

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Place an safe bowl with a few inches of water in it on the bottom of the oven. 
2. Wash your butternut squash, then chop off the top, cut in half, and scoop out the seeds. Rub down with olive oil and sprinkle a little salt and pepper before placing halves face-down on a cookie sheet to bake for around an hour, checking periodically for done-ness. (Just needs to be soft enough to scoop out of shells).
3. Once your have your squash meat set aside, heat some olive oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add in your onions and garlic and cook until translucent before tossing in apple chunks. Cook until softened.
4. Since you’re making a large amount of soup, you’ll need to puree in batches. Add around half the squash meat, half the apple mixture, and a few cups of water to a blender and blend until smooth. Repeat with what’s leftover. You can add however much (or little) water as you like. In fact, I leave it up to you since you might also want to reserve some of this puree for baby -- and a bit thicker is nicer for baby food consistency.
5. Return everything to the stove to season with the salt, pepper, and cinnamon powder. I did around a tablespoon of salt, a teaspoon of black pepper, and a teaspoon of cinnamon. 
6. You may also wish to stir in additional water at this point to achieve your desired consistency. Just add about a half cup at a time and stir well to incorporate.
7. Serve with crusty bread on the side. Freeze leftovers using this simple method.

NOTES:

• Use you can whatever apples you have on hand -- but I’d say the juicer and sweeter the better because you really do taste them in this recipe.
• As noted above, you can use this soup as baby food as is or even after just pureeing with less water for a thicker consistency. To freeze, portion into 1-ounce cubes and once frozen place in a freezer bag for storage. Let thaw and/or warm before serving.
• You can also use other winter squashes like delicata and acorn in this recipe -- the size will impact the yield and ratio of squash to apples. So, maybe three to four large delicata and 4 acorn squashes.
• If you don’t like cinnamon or want to change the flavor, I recommend using curry powder much like we do in our Delicata Mac and Cheese recipe. Curry powder marries well with squash. Smoked paprika, too. Yum!

And head to Writing Chapter Three for a peek into the kitchen in progress. Last weekend, I painted the cabinets white and -- this weekend -- I hand-painted the tile backsplash this weekend. Some notes on how I did it, what I used, and if I like it (or not). Things are certainly coming along! Can’t wait to share the finished kitchen with you guys!

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Help Us! How Does Your Garden Grow?

My left hamstring has been incredibly tight since the race, so this weekend will likely not mean a long run for me. So, I'm trying to plan my days accordingly. Trying to fill them to the brim with production and relaxing activities. Tomorrow we're spending an "intimate evening" with Andy Samberg (really, that's what the poster says for the event). And I couldn't be more thrilled. If you've been living under a rock, Andy Samberg is on SNL. He's hilarious. Google him.

Anyway, Saturday's weather is supposed to be especially brilliant (yes, too much of Jaime Oliver's Food Revolution), so we're planning a 20-mile bike trek to a nearby river town. 40 miles in all. That is, if our bikes are in OK condition to make sure a voyage. I'm sure after a quick tune-up, we'll be good to go.


But another item on the agenda is to start planting a garden. We have a (very) small plot (probably 3 feet by 5 feet) in our backyard where we've grown anything from basil to pumpkins to peppers. We even grew that proud pumpkin you see below. But how that happened is an entirely different story. Basically, Stephen is the expert of the two of us in this particular area. I don't have a green thumb. Really, it's more out of choice than lack of talent. I just haven't gotten into the whole growing and gardening thing. But I'd like to try.




As I mentioned in my last Foodie Book Club post -- one of my goals is to make a meal using entirely locally grown ingredients. Of course, it's be cool if those ingredients could not only be grown in my zip code, but also at my own address. What do you think?

Here's the thing. We could totally use your help with this project. We have the time. We have a small budget. We even have some compost we could throw on there (more about that in another post). And we certainly have the desire to grow a little garden.

• But -- most importantly -- what should we grow? (Veggies, herbs, etc.?)
• Should we expand the plot to allow room for variety?
• What plants do well with little maintenance?
• What plants are the most rewarding, even if they're difficult to maintain?
• Should we go with seeds or small plants?
• How should we organize everything?
• How can we keep critters out? (We live in town, but still -- we get animals.)

Yeah. We could Google it. We could read books. We likely will do all those things. But we'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Please, please, please leave us a comment or email us at neverhomemaker@gmail.com.

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

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