Hearty Squash Bisque
1 acorn squash, halved and seeded
1 butternut squash, halved and seeded
nonstick spray
2 cups raw cashews
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons dried onion
4 cups vegetable stock
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon sea salt
dash pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the halved squash (both types), cut side down, on a sprayed or oiled baking sheet, and bake for 30-45 minutes (until soft), then allow the squash to cool.
2. While the squash cools, make your cashew cream. Blend cashews and water down to 1 cup of a nice thick "heavy sour cream" consistency.
3. Once the squash has cooled, scoop the roasted flesh from the skins, discard the skins, and put the flesh in a blender. Add the stock, the 1 cup cashew cream, cinnamon, and the onion.
4. After thoroughly blending the ingredients, pour the soup into a large pot, and simmer gently over medium heat, tending carefully because thick creamy soups burn easily. Once the soup has simmered for approximately 15 minutes, season it with the sea salt, and pepper, to taste, remove from heat, and serve.
Source of recipe: I had a similar soup at a vegan friend's house and all they would tell me was that it was acorn squash and butternut squash. This is what I created, trying to achieve the same results with the same squash. It's not as sweet or thin as my friend's. I actually like this one better!
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I had been hesitating to make this because I thought it would be too much work. It's not, and it's worth it!
I am all about simplifying recipes and cutting down on utensils/implements used, so I made the cashew cream in my food processor (it works better for nuts than my blender), then added a bit of the veggie stock to thin it out and get a better blend, and then added the squash to mix. Instead of dried onion, I sauted some onion in the pot I planned to use to simmer the soup, and I added that to the food processor to blend it before returning it to the pot.
Also, a good way to get all the soup in the processor is to then pour a bit of the stock back into the food processor (or blender) and mix, then pour that into your soup. Waste not, want not!
Sorry to geek out on the technique, but this is what made the difference for me--less items to clean.
The flavor, of course, is divine! Thanks for the great recipe!
this sounds wonderful. you could even add some more vegetables, like carrots or sweet potatoes-and roast the onion with the veggies. to dress it up you could use grated apple, veggie sour cream, curry powder.
Would you add the roasted veggies to the soup as chunks, or would you blend them with everything else? I definitely would love to try this soup with sweet potato but not sure how to add it. I have no culinary skills.
Though I have not tried the suggestion, I believe you could do either. Adding bite sized cubes of pre-cooked sweet potato to have chewable bits, or, blending the sweet potato into it as you run the blender, would be quite nice I imagine. Sweet potato works fabulous with the flavors already incorporated here.
this sounds wonderful. you could even add some more vegetables, like carrots or sweet potatoes-and roast the onion with the veggies. to dress it up you could use grated apple, veggie sour cream, curry powder.
Would you add the roasted veggies to the soup as chunks, or would you blend them with everything else? I definitely would love to try this soup with sweet potato but not sure how to add it. I have no culinary skills.
this sounds wonderful. you could even add some more vegetables, like carrots or sweet potatoes-and roast the onion with the veggies. to dress it up you could use grated apple, veggie sour cream, curry powder.
Thanks for your post ;)b