I’m undeniably in it. I have embraced fall completely; the rusty-hues, dry air, the cider doughnuts and smoky spices. All but the sweltering heat pipes running full blast in my pre-war apartment building, bringing the average temperature up to about 84-86F with the radiators tightly shut off. Heat pipes aside, this may be the most I’ve really enjoyed the fall. Rather than regarding the season as a prelude to something far more challenging, this year I’ve been able to stay present and really celebrate the offerings of the autumnal shifts and oblong angles. This may have something to do with all of my travel for work and my Mets in the World Series (!!!). But, I’m really reveling in the moment at hand and letting the future shape up on its own.
Last week apples, this week squash. My mom makes this butternut squash soup every year for Thanksgiving and it’s what I look forward to the most. I hadn’t heard of honeynut squash until I happened upon it at a local farm. The honeynut squash is a butternut squash cross breed that fits in the palm of your hand and has about ten times the sweetness and squash flavor of the workaday butternut. I figured I’d give it a shot and it’s worth it, though if you can’t find one, a regular butternut suits the bill just fine. Adding a touch of curry and nutmeg, plus a few heaping tablespoons of pumpkin puree brings out the natural flavor of the squash without actually making it taste like curry or pumpkin pie. Cilantro contributes depth and pepitas provide a fitting texture. This soup is gooood. It’s healthy, filling and light enough to reflect each fluctuation of the season.
Ever since starting this blog in October 2012….wait a minute…did I completely forget my blogoversary, which is like…actually today?! I did, didn’t I? Shoot. Okay, then. Next week my blog gets to eat whatever it wants.
As I was saying, when I started this blog, I saw it as a distraction or a break from my pursuit of creative writing. I’m a short story teller by nature. I always have been. Personal narrative often takes second place to professional life or the business of our daily lives. This space has been a way of giving narrative its intentional place by focusing it through the lens of food and photography. While the blog isn’t fiction, this space has helped me to refine my thought process and grow in ways I never could have predicted. It has been a way of learning new movement in my creative muscle memory and strengthening it. If a story’s positive virtues are not different from the positive virtues of its writer, and a good story is honest, direct, loving and restrained, it follows that by practicing this craft weekly here, by revising and refining the recipes, photos and sentences, I’ve refined a part of my own character. Nurturing this space week after week and the relationships that I’ve derived from being here have changed the way I perceive beauty and gently elevated my vision to a more sound estate. It’s as if something has reached out its shadowy hand and subtly drawn my gaze toward it. A story is a compressed bundle of energy. The more it is thoughtfully compressed, the more power it will have, giving these paragraphs more power than their length should allow. And so regardless of my goals going in, I’ve already achieved more than I ever set out to do.
With that, enjoy carving the pumpkins and the impression you’ll make by serving a simple, wholesome soup in an edible bowl. And Vamos los Mets!
CURRIED HONEYNUT SQUASH SOUP IN A PUMPKIN
INGREDIENTS:
For The Soup:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 honeynut squashes, or 1 medium butternut squash cut in half
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (optional)
- 1 (32 fluid ounce) container chicken (or vegetable) stock
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds, toasted*
For The Pumpkins:
- 2 medium sized pumpkins
- salt/pepper/nutmeg/cinnamon (a pinch of each)
*For this recipe I used store bought pepitas/pumpkin seeds and toasted them in a pan over a low flame for about 5 minutes. For the seeds I just pulled out of the pumpkin, I plan to use this handy guide for shelling the seeds and roasting them. I used to do this as a kid so it has to be easy enough.
DIRECTIONS:
Prepare The Pumpkins and Squash:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Using a knife, carve the top off of the pumpkins and scoop out the seeds and the stringy insides. Season inside of pumpkin with salt, pepper and a touch of nutmeg and/or cinnamon. Set aside. Cut the butternut or honeynut squashes in half and scoop out the seeds and stringy part. Place pumpkins on a baking sheet including the tops (no need to cover the pumpkins with the tops) in the oven on lower rack and honeynut squash facedown on a baking sheet in the higher rack and roast for 45 mins. Remove from oven, let cool. This can be done the day before if necessary and stored in the fridge until needed.
Prepare The Soup:
Pour the oil in a large pot, and cook the onion for 5-7 mins until translucent. Add the curry powder and nutmeg. Let toast for a minute. Scoop the roasted honeynut squash pulp out of its skin and into the pot. Add the pumpkin puree if using. Pour in the chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 20 minutes.
Transfer the soup to a blender or using a hand blender, blend until smooth. Return to pot. Season with salt and pepper. Using a ladle, pour into roasted pumpkins. Serve with cilantro, chives and toasted pumpkin seeds.
Always a good thing to have a warming soup in autumn and yours is really yummy. I am on to curry as well this week, how fitting. It is such an autumn spice, isn’t it?
Nicole
Thanks, Nicole. It’s funny that I haven’t used curry in a while, but this week I found myself reaching for it. I’m off to see what you’re up to this week!
That’s what I mean, autumn says curry to me. Wait, I need another minute or two. N
Ha! Take your time. I have to get over to work and will check there.
Happy anniversary/blogoversary Amanda! The soup is wonderful, I love the presentation also. I am getting some honeynut squash in my CSA next week. I had never heard of it and now I see this recipe. So glad!!
Thank you! You always leave such sweet and supportive comments. I really appreciate it. Have fun with the butternut squash!
Is it really your “blogversary”? Because it is also mine! Same day, same year. What a coincidence. This is a lovely creamy soup, and a fun way of presenting it; I’ve used tiny pumpkins to cook eggs in, but have yet to try pumpkin soup bowls. I love the crunchy pepitas and use of fresh herbs too. Very nice!
Happy blogoversary to you too!!! I knew we were close. So funny. I remember your pumpkin eggs. I still need to try that. You can actually eat the pumpkin with these, which I love. This soup is a classic for mom. It actually tastes like being with family for me. The herbs and pepitas add so much. Hope you’re doing well! I’ve been meaning to write to you too tell you that I’m reading a translation by linda grossman who was at the conference with your parents. I really should read the book in its original spanish but it’s 600 + pages. It would take me much longer. 🙂
I love the fact that you served this soup in a pumpkin! Very seasonal and festive! I absolutely love squash soup, in fact I just posted a recipe for one too, though it has carrots and potatoes in it. This recipe looks so delicious with the cilantro and pumpkin puree. I also enjoyed your post about the apple cider doughnuts. Such beautiful fall photos, and your posts really capture the essence of fall, putting into words what many of us feel.
Thank you, Jenny. I’m off to see your soup recipe too. I actually got the idea from Eric Ripert, chef at Le Bernadin and thought to myself that you really can’t get a better tasting soup than this. I’ll have to try his! And yours. I was going to add carrots and apples here too, but I decided to keep them for a side salad with the soup tonight 🙂 Thanks for your insightful comments. It’s always such a pleasure to hear from you.
This is weird. I happened to discover honey nut squash at Wegman’s just yesterday and planning to bake it and blog about it. I’m waiting for the sun to come out before I start making it. It’s been gloomy and rainy here, but the sun will be out on Friday and I will make it then.
You’re not the only who missed the blog’s anniversary. I missed mine twice. I was away and wasn’t able to post anything. What a shame, I know. Anyway, happy blogoversary, Amanda. Beautiful images. And the soup sounds delicious and healthy. Great post.
Have a great day!
I love Wegmans! I hear you about the rain. Aww our poor blogs go unacknowledged by their caretakers. We’ll have to have a party for them 🙂 thanks so much for your kind and thoughtful comment. Be well! And I can’t wait to see what you do with the squash!
This is just awesome, Amanda. Everything is this post is. So much in common, being a kind of a short story teller my self. I’m so glad we got to find each other virtually 🙂
By the way, congratulations for these 3 prolific years of blogging, gorgeous!
Have a lovely week and enjoy fall this beautiful!
Thank you, Rosa. I totally agree with you about having a lot in common. I live reading your stories and looking at your beautiful photography. I learn so much from your baking. Thanks for the support. Have a great week and a lovely fall as well. Besos!
Wow you may as well be living down here with those temps. 80’s is kind of fall here and squash can be found all over. It is my favorite type of soup.Love how you made this soup and your photos are outstanding.
I enjoy reading your narratives and find them very refreshing and interesting.
go Mets.
Thank you, Jovina! And thanks for sending a little love to the Mets! I actually talked to the Super today about the heat. He recommended insulation wraps. I may just have to. Apparently there are two ways to control the heat in an old building. On. And off. Thanks again.
That’s a great way to sever the soup and curried pumpkin soup is one of the few pumpkin dished I like. Generally I find squash a bit sweet for my taste – I think I must have OD’d on candy as a child. I prefer carving pumpkin to eating it, though it’s a waste not to eat it. I need some pigs!
Happy blogoversary 🙂
I somehow suspected you wouldn’t like squash for its sweetness. I too have a sensitivity to sweet things, but if seasoned correctly it with a savory counterpart I can tolerate it just a little more than you can. Barely. I too prefer the carving although I’m a sucker for plain and simple pumpkin pie. If it’s not too sweet because you’re right, squash had a lot of natural sugars. Thanks for the blog bday wishes. I feel the same about anniversaries, bdays and holidays as I do about sugar. They can be great if recognized in sparing moderation. Be well!
I think I did have some good sweet pumpkin pie for pudding, around Thanksgiving 1994 😉
Oh and if you had pigs you’d probably carve and eat them too and enjoy them more than a pumpkin. I mean that as a compliment.
No doubt I would – I have a whole Spanish jamón serrano in my kitchen at present 😉
Loved your thoughts on writing Amanda…heartily concur. Saw dashes of Autumn colour just before I left the States… stunning. Wish I was back there now…eating pumpkin soup. x
Aw, thanks Anna. I’m glad you can relate and that you caught glimpses of the most beautiful season here. Writing can really be as miserable as it is cathartic sometimes, but if it calls to you you cannot ignore it. Be well!
It’s funny because I JUST made Butternut Squash soup, like a million other food bloggers now right? But I never thought to add in nutmeg and curry, and you know I love me some cilantro 😀
I like how you influenced the pumpkin seeds in here too, very nice madam 🙂
Thanks, Dana. I feel like anything with squash these days will be overkill because it’s what everyone is doing. But I also think, why not mess with a good thing? It’s cliche, but I’ve fully embraced the squash an orchard season. Maybe because I rebelled against it as a kid. I never ate a squash aside from pumpkin pie (if that counts) until I was like 25. Isn’t that crazy??? I think I’m making up for it here, even if everyone else is doing it. That’s part of the point here. I want everyone to know what I didnt! Hope all is well with you!
A gorgeous autumn post Amanda. I love your mom’s soup. Butternut squash soup is one of my favorites and I always make at least one pot every year. But, I’ve never added nutmeg and curry. I haven’t made any this season (yet) and I’m going to try it your way. Classy way to serve it too! I can’t believe the Mets are in! My sis-in-law married an ex-Met pitcher a few years ago and darn, too bad he’s not with them now. Go Mets!
Ha thanks re mets! Cool re sis in law. You’ll love this soup with the spices. It adds subtle flavor and depth. Sometimes my mom goes too far with the curry which turns it spicy, but I like it subtle. I hope you’re enjoying the season. Have a great week!
Amanda, I always enjoy reading your post. The soup looks delectable and the pictures are stunning; an inviting ode to Autumn. Happy Blogoversay and have a wonderful day! 🙂
Thank you so much, Linda. What a thoughtful comment to brighten the morning. I like the idea of an inviting ode to autumn 🙂 Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day.
Beautiful. I can’t get over the photos!
Thanks so much, Mimi!
Beautiful! And many happy returns.
Thank you so much 🙂
Hapoy blog anniversary dear:-) perfect way to celebrate.. Colorful and delish
Thank you so much!
This is the CUTEST IDEA!!!! Gorgeous. And happy anniversary :).
Thank you, Betty! I’m about to head over to you to see those root veggies!