Friday, October 19, 2012

The Taste of Fall

Last week we made pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin bread, pumpkin spice cookies, squash & apple soup, and apple & five-spice pork roast.  Yesterday we made melt-in-your-mouth pumpkin cookies with a brown sugar frosting.  All gluten-free by-the-way.  As soon as my six weeks of gluten-free are over, I'm making those first pumpkin cookies again cause they were fantastic (and I actually preferred them without the glaze).  Oh, and tonight I'm making dinner in a pumpkin.

The epitome of fall flavors was in this:

Apple-Butternut Squash Soup (from Cooking Up Vermont via Linda)

3 T vegetable oil
1 medium white onion, diced small
3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
1 T kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground allspice
1 large butternut squash (about 2 pounds) peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded and cute into 1-inch pieces
2 quarts water or chicken stock (I would reduce next time and do 4 c. veg or chick stock and 2 c. water)
2 cups apple cider
2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 cups half and half
 
Heat oil in stockpot over medium low heat.  Add onion, celery, carrot, apple sale, pepper and spices.  Cover and cook until vegetables are slightly tender...8-10 minutes stirring occasionally.  
 
Remove cover and add squash, water or stock, cider and lemon juice, stirring to combine well.  Simmer over medium-high heat for about 40 minutes or until squash is fork tender, stirring occasionally.  
 
Working in batches, if necessary, transfer squash mixture to a blender and puree until silk smooth.  Transfer back to pot and slowly whisk in half and half and heat through.  Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. 

2 comments:

  1. i totally forgot about those cookies! ah! i'm making them next. :)

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  2. Emily I tried this soup for dinner tonight and it is AMAZING!!!!! I've tried lots of pumpkin or squash soups and they're never fabulous, just good or ok. But wow! Thanks for sharing. =)

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