Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Squash and Beet Soup

I will not attempt to explain my long absence.


I had a squash, some beets, and a yearning for soup. What resulted was a delicious soup that was so sweet it reminded me of Hungarian fruit soup.


  • 1 medium-sized squash
  • 3 medium-sized beets
  • 1 carrot
  • 3 peeled garlic cloves
  • 4-5 cups of liquid (I used about half chicken stock and half water)
  • salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg

Bring the water/stock to a boil. As it heats, peel the beets, garlic, carrot, and squash and chop them roughly into cubes, tossing the vegetables into the stock as soon as you've chopped them. (I ordered them this way intentionally: the beets take the longest to cook through.) Keep a low simmer. When everything is soft (after about 45 minutes, though I added my beets after my squash and it took longer), mash with a potato masher right in the pot. (I'd say don't do it too thoroughly--the occasional chunk is nice.) Add a tiny bit of cinnamon, a good grating of nutmeg, lots of pepper, and however much salt is necessary (which depending on the saltiness of the stock may be none).

The ratio of vegetables is what it is because it's what I had. Next time, I'll use fewer beets, as they really dominated the soup.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention the garlic the first time; I've added it now. Also, I've written more about this recipe.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heh, and I was getting all set to tell you on Friday that you should end your long hiatus from blogging. It sounds like a dessert soup -- maybe one increase the squash-to-beets ratio, or find some additional less-sweet vegetable to toss in as well. Where at school do you have access to a kitchen?

Joel

Toby said...

Yeah, I'm planning to make this again with just one beet. (I'm making it sound like the sweet version of this soup was bad, but it wasn't.) As for where my kitchen is, I live off-campus.