Autumn To-Do List
Buy boots. Wear new boots at every waking moment.
Bust out the scarves and go for it. Two at a time? Fine by me!
Make Dad’s Sweet Potato Pie. I know… I’ve been talking about this for ages. I need to shut my trap and get bakin’ already.
Don’t get Swine Flu, that would be seriously lame.
Is it time for flannel sheets? Well.. is the Pope Catholic? Heck yes!
Eat Roasted Pumpkin Soup by the truckload. Do it. Done.
I make a lot of soup. I don’t tell you about half of the soup I make because if you knew, you might make me change the name of this blog to Joy the Soup Maker.
That being said… when I make soups, I usually don’t follow a recipe. Here’s a secret: you can throw just about anything into soup and it’ll be delicious.
Here’s my recipe for pumpkin soup. It’s easy, creamy, and super healthy. Store it in jars in the freezer and put a frozen jar in the fridge in the morning for the evening’s dinner. This recipe is divine with or without the heavy cream. You could also use water instead of vegetable stock, but I love the flavor that a good vegetable stock adds to vegetable soups.
Roasted Pumpkin and Butternut Squash Soup
serves 6 to 8
1 medium pumpkin (perhaps a sugar pumpkin) and 1 medium butternut squash
1 cup leeks
2 small cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
5-6 cups vegetable broth
1/4-1/2 cup cream
2 teaspoons brown sugar
a few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cut pumpkin and butternut squash into 2-inch chunks, removing the inner seeds and fibrous bits. I roasted my pumpkin and squash with the peel on and removed the cooked flesh from the peel once baked. If you think it’s easier to peel the pumpkin and squash before baking, then go right ahead.
Slice the white flesh up until the green stalks of several leeks. Toss the pumpkin, squash, whole garlic cloves and leeks on a baking tray with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a fork inserted in the flesh of the pumpkin and squash meets no resistance.
Remove from the oven and allow them to rest until cool enough to handle.
When cooled, use a spoon to scoop the cooked flesh away from the squash peel and place in a large saucepan. Add the roasted garlic and leeks to the pan too. Add 3 cups of warm vegetable broth and using a hand blender, blend and breakdown the squash flesh with the broth. If you don’t have a hand blender, blending the chunky soup in a regular blender in batches should work too. Add 2 to 3 more cups of broth and blend until you’ve reached the desired consistency. Add sugar and nutmeg.
Cook soup over medium heat for 30 minutes. Add cream and salt and pepper to taste. Stir. Serve warm.
Christianne
Would a jar be the best vessel for this? I thought glass shouldn’t go in the freezer. That being said, this looks really good.
joythebaker
oooh i don’t know. maybe tupperware? glass shouldn’t go in the freezer? mama never told me that.
simon
I think just in case the soup expands as it freezes and busts the jar? I’ve had to empty my freezer and hunt broken glass in amongst the food too many times after trying to hurriedly chill beer or wine and forgetting, only to open the freezer the next day to find a big alcoholicicle :(
I HAVE managed to freeze food in glass vessels but only by leaving a big gap for expansion. A quick Google search indicates that water expands ~9% on freezing so I guess a bit of guesswork for pumpkin and squash soup may be needed (guessing squared; an incredibly accurate method)!
Either way, I’m making this soup tomorrow morning for a friend who’s stopping by our place in Manchester on his way back down south from Liverpool. We’re in the UK and it is cold, wet, windy, wet and cold. Grey too. A lovely warm orange soup with fresh crusty bread will be just the thing:)
thank you for the awesome site!
S X
lauren at KeepItSweet
Yum I could eat soup every day for lunch and dinner when it is cold out lol
amy
joy!
i made dad’s sweet potato pie yesterday with your no roll dough and it’s to die for!
thank you thank you for the deliciousness . & for renewing my hope in my ability to make pie crust . :)
joythebaker
you made it!? AWESOME!!!
Anna
Ah! I want to make this so badly. Alas, no blender. :(
Also, you need to start a soup section. Who doesn’t love soup? I’d read it… and buy the book.
squash soup
I’ve just made this and it was soooo delicious I had to come on here and thank you – thanks again!
Catie
The soup is GREAT!! I added some curry powder because I love curry and butternut squash together. Thanks for the awesome recipes.
Megan
Joy! Sweet potatoes are taking over my kitchen counter. For real. I think they are hooking up and making sweet potato babies. Please post your pie recipe soon!
Soupdiva
I just made this soup yesterday. It was amazing! Everyone who tried it loved every bite. My husband’s new 2nd favorite, only because he can’t get enough white cheddar potato with pancetta. He gave you a HUGE thumbs up and said you’re an excellent soup maker! YUM! I recommend this recipe 100% It even got me 2 marriage proposals by my 2 friends. I can’t marry them for my cooking and borrowing your recipes, as I am already married, and they are both gay, but it was funny. I promised them pumpkin cheesecake instead.
Jessica
I made this last night, but added some crispy bacon and toasted, spiced pumpkin seeds. It’s even better the next day! Absolutely delicious :-)
Jessica
I JUST got squash and pumpkin in my farm share – I’ll definitely be trying this this weekend, thanks!
Chaitali
Mmm..soup!.
Nothing is more comforting than a steaming hot bowl of soup on a cold windy day.
Joy, could you please post a few more soup recipes?