Friends gave us a very nice looking Kabocha squash a few weeks ago. I decided to turn it into soup and wanted to use the beautiful shaped squash as the bowl. No cream or butter in this one.
Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Cut open squash by slicing a very sharp knife a bit over 1/4 off from the top and slice all the way through to make a lid. Scoop out seeds and thread-like pulp and leave the inside smooth.
Roast squash, cut sides down, in an oiled roasting pan in middle of oven until almost tender, about 25 minutes. When cool enough to handle, scrape flesh from skin but leave enough on the sides so the pumpkin holds up.
In a small amount of olive oil cook onion, stirring, until softened. Stir in garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the scooped out squash, broth and simmer 20 minutes to blend flavors.
Purée soup in batches in a blender or use an immersion blender. Return soup to pot and reheat if necessary. Thin to desired consistency with broth or a bit of fat free milk, if needed.
Stir in salt and pepper to taste. Pour it into the scooped out Kabocha shell. Sprinkle top with fresh ground nutmeg and garnish with a fresh sprig of sage.
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Comments: 46
We're also drinking a lot of lemon flavored water. Lemons are at their peak at the moment and our Meyer is producing quite a few this year...also friends give us lemons and limes often from their own abundance...
What I've noticed both here in the USA and in Australia is that squash (at least, the variety I've tried) is much sweeter than pumpkin (the type I've eaten in Australia). Here pumpkin appears only to be sold at Halloween time - I haven't seen it at other times in the supermarkets. In the UK, if my brother (who lives there) is to be believed, no one eats pumpkin - they only eat squash.
In Oz, both pumpkin and squash are eaten.
Do you know the difference between winter squash and pumpkin?
But I am convinced that the squash I've eaten here, in the UK and in Oz is much sweeter than the 'pumpkin' I've tasted. Perhaps the explanation is that some varieties of squash are sweeter than others.
As an aside, one of the first things I noticed when I first came to America was the sweetness of all breads here. When I read the ingredients on the packaging I was shocked to see how many/much sweetening substances were used. I asked a baker in a supermarket if they made any unsweetened bread. The answer was no. Fortunately, I found the boutique Blue Blinds Bakery in Plymouth where there is always a queue for their sourdough and other unsweetened bread.
I also noticed that in the USA sweeteners are added to almost everthing as par for the course. Consumers appear to have been conditioned to accept that this sweetness is the natural taste. But coming from Oz where fewer and less sweeteners are used - especially in bread - the sweetness in food here is quite noticeable.
As to breads, yes, most breads here have too much - when I make bread I use just enough to get the yeast to wake up...unless I'm making a sweet bread on purpose.
My grandfather put lots of sugar on many things, including a slice of fresh tomato and on cottage cheese--so much on the cottage cheese that it was crunchy!
;-)