What you see above is half of a 10lbs. (they get above 20lbs.) heirloom Queensland (as in Australia) Blue squash plucked from the aisles of Picky's workplace: Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market. It's a funky looking thing, but if you're not one to be intimidated by squash, it yields some delicious innards. The squash was introduced stateside in 1932 and Picky first laid eyes on one a few short months ago. We've made butternut squash soup before from our friend Liz's recipe (no idea where her recipe came from) and we decided to substitute the Queensland Blue and tweak the recipe a tad for our tastes. It should be noted that Messy has a strong aversion to all things squash-like, but for some reason, she likes this soup (although she preferred it with the butternut squash).
Ingredients:
5lbs. heirloom Queensland Blue squash (you can use butternut squash for a much sweeter soup – 2 medium or 1 large)
1 can of unsweetened coconut milk (the original recipe called for an 8 oz. can, we used 13.5 oz. and it tasted awesome)
2 ribs celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
3 scallions, sliced
1 small shallot, diced
3 dried Thai peppers, diced (use a jalapeño if you don't like things too spicy)
6-8 cups vegetable stock (we use bouillon)
splash of dry sherry
salt and pepper
Here is an interior look at the squash. Almost a solid 2" of flesh at the edges. The flesh is quite aromatic. The skin is on the thin side and the flesh is soft and easy to cut with a good sized cleaver or chef's knife, whatever floats your boat. Once you pierce the skin, you'll be treated to a lovely nose of light pumpkin and fresh bread.
Onward to the recipe! You'll need 5lbs. of Queensland Blue squash (conveniently found at Fair Food Farmstand [closed Mondays] for about $1.50/lbs.). Line a tray with parchment paper or one of them fan-cay Silicon mats. Stick it in a 400°F oven for about 40 minutes. You may have to cut the squash further to get the innards nice and soft in a reasonable amount of time.
Dice up 2 ribs of celery; slice 3 scallions (we don't call them "green onions" in this house!); dice 1 smallish shallot; slice 2 cloves of garlic. Lay them all out nicely on a bamboo cutting board with 8" chef's knife and take a nice photo (this may take awhile). Everything will be puréed, so the chopping doesn't have to be perfect for show.
Get out a nice big soup pot and set it over a medium flame. Pop open a can of unsweetened coconut milk (8oz. or 13.5oz depending on how much you like the stuff – we really like it) and spoon out the solid coconut fat. If there's not enough to coat the bottom of the pot, add olive oil. Once it's nice and hot, add all the chopped veggies, until soft, for about 5 minutes. Once soft, remove from heat and wait until the squash is done.
Check on that squash. Stick a fork in it and see if it's soft. It should be a little mushy and not need much force to get the tines of the fork deep into the flesh (not from the skin side). Remove the squash from the oven and peel it. It'll be piping hot so use a potholder to hold it steady. You might be able to peel off the skin with your fingers. Picky used the big knife while Messy tried her hand with a butter knife. You might want to let the squash cool a little before handling it –this process was kind of delicate and a little messy for one of us (guess which one!).
Slice up the squash like a melon and cut the slices into chunks and toss them into the big pot with the veggies and fire up the burner again.
Add a splash of sherry, a chopped hot pepper or 2 or 3 (we used 3 very small spicy Thai peppers from Messy's mom's friend's Connecticut garden) and the coconut liquid into the pot, bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Add in 6-8 cups of vegetable stock (we used 6 cups for a thicker soup), return to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. (Note: photo is prior to adding in veggie stock.)
Now the kind of tricky part. You're going to ladle, bit by bit, the contents of your large pot into a food processor to purée it all. We'd advise you to not fill past the halfway mark with each batch. Messy did that the last time we made this soup and the result was — surprise! — extremely messy. Pour the puréed soup directly into bowls or into another container for keeping. We opted to empty the big pot into a smaller pot and pouring the purée back into the big pot for storage. Add salt and pepper to taste and you're done!
For added awesomeness, whip up some croutons in a pan. Thickly slice off a piece or two of some tasty bread. We had a gigantic loaf of Le Bus's golden wheat bread at hand so all it took was one 6" tall slice for the two of us. Dice that up into nice big chunks. Heat some butter (or oil) in a pan – our favorite is our 10" cast iron skillet. Add in the bread cubes and sprinkle some herbs for flavor. Our purple sage and rosemary plants are still going strong in our windowsill so that's what we used. Flip the cubes once lightly (or darkly is you prefer) browned and let the other side get flavored and toasty. This should take all of 5 minutes tops.
Ladle some deliciously orange heirloom Queensland Blue squash soup into a bowl and add in a few fresh croutons. The soup is nice and thick, using 6 cups of stock, but not clumpy. You'll get a nice tingle of heat from the hot pepper to complement the creamy pumpkin sweetness of the Queensland Blue squash. Add an extra crack of pepper for a bit more of a kick. The croutons will give a nice crunchy texture to fill out the bowl of liquid warmth.
Winters don't have to be boring while striving to eat locally. Squash is your friend! [Note: squash is actually not Messy's friend. But it might be yours. . .]
