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Friday, September 24, 2010

Will offerings of fall soup excuse my absence?

So, I've been gone. Mostly, it is because my brother, Ian the animal tamer, came to visit me for a little more than a week. Secondly, I'm going for a whole blog redesign. I suck at this, so it is going very, very slow. I've also experienced a number of pretty severe recipe fails. I don't fail all that often, but I have to tell you some of these fails were epic. I've had some triumphs, too. I've had success with some great recipes- apple butter, squash quesadillas, maple burgers, summer peach cake. I've also had some original creations this month, including pistachio pesto gnocchi, brown butter sage & squash lasagne, nutty apple crumble, homemade ketchup, and lemongrass scented butternut squash soup.

This soup is fresh, almost fruity. I wasn't in the mood for a heavy, cream laden squash soup. So, I improvised using ingredients I procured at the Yellow Springs Farmer's market. It has a light almost effervescent texture. I used a Cortland apple to lighten the soup. I would suggest using a firm, white fleshed varietal like the Cortland, Roxbury Royal or McIntosh. A bonus for those sensitive eaters, this recipe is vegan & gluten free.

Lemongrass Scented Butternut Squash Soup


1 medium butternut squash, chopped into 1 inch chunks
3-4 stalks of fresh lemon grass
1 Cortland apple, chopped
32 ounces of vegetable stock
1/2 inch piece of ginger, cleaned and peeled
regular coconut milk, to taste
Place the squash, apple, lemongrass, ginger and stock in a stock pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 20-25 minutes or until squash is fork tender.
Let the mixture cool for about 5-10 minutes. It should still be warm, but not hot. Pick out the lemongrass stalks. Puree using an immersion blender. Reheat to desired temperature when ready to serve.
Spoon soup into bowls. Pour 1-2 tablespoons of coconut milk in each bowl before serving. You can use a toothpick or knife to make a design with the coconut milk. (Obviously I fail with the artistic presentation, but you get the idea).

You forgive me now, right?

As always, many of my recipes can be found on Food52.

2 comments:

Kate Ervin said...

I think I might make this...previously had lemongrass & a pumpkin from the YS mkt, and was looking at similar recipes to use them in, but they all seemed a little too extreme with the Asian ingredients, like fish sauce.

Hilary said...

Please do try it and let me know what you think. I don't like many of the applications using lemongrass. There are usually a gazillion ingredients in preparations that I do not care for. I put this together with simplicity in mind.

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