Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup

I was at a friends house recently and he gave me a bowl of one of the yummiest soups I have ever had. It was a roasted something or other squash soup with Chorizo and yogurt. Normally, I hate chorizo. To be honest, I don't much care for any sausage. This soup, however, was excellent. Like, REALLY excellent. Smokey, rich and fabulous. They gave me a tupperware container to go. It didn't make it through the night. I ate it as soon as I got home. I took a copy of the recipe too, and vowed to adapt it as best I could so that Alan could eat it. That meant, no chorizo (or any smoked pork for that matter, like bacon) and no greek yoghurt.


First, get yourself a couple of squashes. I ended up with organic Kabocha squashes, something I have never heard of. I didn't want spaghetti squash or anything that would be too stringy. These were about the size of a pomello.

Stab them repeatedly with a fork or a knife - do this carefully, and roast them in a 350 oven for an hour or so. The stabbing helps them cook faster and stops them from exploding, or at least so I've always been told. It also helps if you scream "DIE SQUASH DIE" when you do it. It gives you an imtimate glance into a serial killers mind, I think. Either way, I find this easier than cutting them up when they are raw, scooping out the seeds, maybe peeling them.

Its just so much eaiser to break them open after, scoop out the cooked seeds and whatnot, and then get rid of the skin.

Once you've scooped it all out, set it aside for a bit. Chop up an onion or two, lots of garlic and a couple ribs of celery and sautee them in a large soup pot with a bit of EVOO to cover the bottom of the pan.

Now here would be a good place to add bacon or chorizo or smoked turkey (if you don't eat pork). I did none of those tihngs, because Alan can't eat pork and I didn't have any smoked turkey. I don't love the "smoke flavor" you can buy in a bottle, but there are LOTS of smoked spices out there that are AMAZING. I got out my mortar and pestle (YAY! First time using it!)

In it, I threw some "Smoke" seasonings I had bought at the One of a Kind Show and some smoked paprika. Then I added all the roasted squash, a bay leaf and a bit of salt and enough water or broth (veg or chicken - I used a mixture of both) to cover the works.

Bring it to a bowl, cover and allow to simmer for about half an hour or so. Then I strained all the bits and threw it in my vitamix to blend. I find you get a silkier soup if you strain the liquid out first.

Note to self: Make sure to COVER the blender. And that the blender starts on LOW SPEED. If you start it high, and its hot, and its not covered... well, you are going to be cleaning your ceiling forever. And you could get burned. Or you could be like Steven Spielberg and the cherries. Not quite the same thing, but still.

Notice my hand holding the lid.

Stir the soup really well to combine the blendered veggies and the broth. Now you can add the yoghurt or not as you choose. I didn't use greek yoghurt as the recipe called for, which makes a really rich creamy broth. I used sheeps yoghurt and it was delicious. I garnished with a few sprigs of cilantro. While it wasn't the same as Bruce's soup, it came out bloody excellent, and I was well happy.

It was already almost a month ago that I made this soup, and I am craving it again. Although now at the end of this blog, all I can think is that Steven Spielberg had a really, really REALLY tolerant mother.