Curried Squash and Apple Soup

In keeping with Autumn themes and using up what we have around, here is another apple recipe (we're still working our way through that big bag from apple picking - lol).  Many thanks to my friend, Valerie, who linked me to this recipe when I posted on Facebook looking for suggestions.

As per usual, I modified it for personal preference, but mostly based on what ingredients we had on hand.  Here's what I did....

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 of a butternut squash - seeds removed, roasted until tender, and scooped from the skin
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 4 teaspoons ground mustard seed (powder)
• 3 tablespoons curry powder (I didn't have "curry powder" on hand, so I made my own: 4 teaspoons of Penzey's Rogan Josh seasoning + 1 teaspoon of ground coriander + 1 teaspoon of ground cumin + 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric + 1 teaspoon of ground mustard seed, + 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper)
• 2 medium apples, plus 1 small apple.  I am not sure of the varieties, as they were mixed in the apple picking bag
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• 1-1/2 tablespoons ginger, finely chopped
• 4 cups vegetable broth (I used Pacific Natural Foods Organic Vegetable Broth)
• 3/4 cup (6 ounces) plain yogurt (I used a reduced fat, but not non-fat, variety)
• 1 lime -- cut off four thin rounds and reserve the remainder for squeezing

DIRECTIONS

1. If you haven't already cooked the squash, preheat the oven to 500ºF.  Place the squash in the oven and cook for 50 minutes, or until soft.  Scoop the flesh out and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, pour the oil into large pot over medium heat. Add the mustard powder and cook for 30 seconds or so, then add the curry powder and cook, stirring occasionally, for a minute or two.
3. Add the apples, squash, onion, garlic, ginger, and vegetable broth.  Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes.
4. Blend the soup until smooth.  Carefully stir in the yogurt, squeeze in some lime juice, and garnish each bowl with one of the thin lime rounds.
5. Season with salt if needed (I didn't do this).

It turned out four 1.5 cup servings, each with:

• 309 calories
• 6 grams protein
• 40 grams carbs
• 16 grams fat
• 0 fiber
• 573 mg sodium

MY REVIEW

I thought the soup was pretty spicy (definitely too spicy for regular people -- unlike me -- who don't like a lot of heat).  This was probably due mainly to the curry powder mix that I created and the amount of ground mustard seed that I used.  It could definitely be dialed down as you prefer by by altering the curry powder mix or reducing mustard seed powder.

I also thought that yogurt was an odd choice for the creaminess in this soup.  It mixed in only sort of okay, in my opinion -- turning out kind of lumpy (teeny bits of the yogurt didn't break down completely and you can see them floating around in the soup).  Flavor wise -- the yogurt was fine.  Next time, though, I will use cream and/or butter rather than yogurt.

Finally, the soup is pretty calorically heavy for only a 1.5 cup serving.  This could be lessened by reducing the amount of oil -- for example, if we were to remove the oil altogether, that would whack 120 calories and 13 grams of fat from each bowl.

All in all, I liked it and the idea of combining squash with apples, but I will certainly modify it further if I make it again.

Ming Tsai's Blue Ginger Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup with Bell Pepper-Bacon Salsa

We have probably about twenty cookbooks in our kitchen, and while we don’t seem to use them as much as we’d like to, we have been making it a point more and more to flip through those pages and try new things.  One of the books we love is by local celebrity chef Ming Tsai.  If you are ever in the Boston area and have a chance, we highly recommend you stop into his restaurant, Blue Ginger.  We’ve been there a couple of times, and have nothing but the utmost praise for everything we encountered.  Just a few of the dishes I can recall off the top of my head right now are: Ginger Ale (with Ginger Candy) homemade from scratch, an incredible Osso Buco, and Chocolate Chip Green Tea Mint Ice Cream (omg).  The menu rotates and changes periodically, using what’s good and in season at the time, and everything is made in-house.  The portions are not overwhelmingly large, but nor are they not too small (they are just the right size that you can have a three course meal and be perfectly satisfied -- you will never go home hungry; and sometimes might even take a little bit of leftovers with you).  There is even an extensive gluten-free menu.  As a bonus, on any given night you can see Ming himself working in the kitchen and strolling through the dining room conversing with guests.  He even quite thoroughly enjoys autographing cookbooks for you if you so desire.  This is one down-to-earth and genuinely pleasant guy.

Today’s recipe is one of Ming’s, which we found in his book, East Meets West Cooking with Ming Tsai.  This Southwestern-style soup is ready for Autumn -- it's hearty and sweet, but still has some of the zing we love.  And it has bacon, so who can argue with that?!?  :)


Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup with Bell Pepper-Bacon Salsa

SALSA INGREDIENTS

• 4 slices of bacon
• 1 small red onion, cut into a 1/4 inch dice
• 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into a1/4 inch dice
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Juice of 1 lime

SOUP INGREDIENTS

• 5 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger
• 2 small white or yellow onions, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon pureed chipotles in adobo
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into a 1/2 inch dice
• 6 cups Chicken Stock or low sodium canned broth (for this particular iteration of the recipe, I used Swanson Natural Goodness 100% Fat Free 33% Less Sodium Chicken Broth)
• 6 tablespoons butter, chilled and roughly chopped
• Juice of 1/2 lime

SALSA DIRECTIONS

1. Cook the bacon until crisp.  Crumble it and set to the side.
2. Pour most of the bacon fat into a heat-proof container, leaving only enough left in the pan to coat the pan lightly.  Reserve the bacon fat.
3. Add the onion and red pepper to the same pan used for cooking the bacon, and sauté over medium heat, stirring, until brown (about 5 minutes).  Season to taste with the salt and pepper (I tend to use minimal salt, personally).
4. Add the crumbled bacon and the lime juice.  Re-season if necessary, transfer the salsa to a bowl, and set aside at room temperature.

SOUP DIRECTIONS

1. Return the reserved bacon fat to the same pan and place over medium heat. Add the garlic, ginger, onions, and brown sugar, season with the salt and pepper to taste (again, minimal salt for me), and sauté, stirring, until the vegetables are brown (about 5 minutes).
2. Stir in the chipotle puree and wine, and cook over medium heat until the mixture is reduced by about three-fourths, approximately 5 minutes.
3. Add the sweet potatoes and stock and simmer until the potatoes are very soft, 20 to 25 minutes.
4. Using a hand blender or regular blender or food processor, puree the soup mixture. Add the butter one piece at a time, blending again after each addition, to thicken the soup slightly. Stir in the lime juice and correct the seasonings.
5. Immediately ladle into bowls, spoon a portion of the salsa onto each and serve.

We got 6 fairly large servings (about 1.75 cups of soup + 4 tbsp salsa), each with:

• 284 calories
• 7 grams protein
• 26 grams carbs
• 14 grams fat
• 3 grams fiber
• 815 mg sodium

This was a recipe that I had made many months ago, but I am now realizing that we happen to have a lot of these ingredients on hand at home right now (specifically chipotles in adobo that I was wondering how we'd use up), and so I think we should make this soup again very soon!  :)

Pho (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup)

We love going out for Pho, and figured there is no reason we can't make it at home ourselves.  This recipe is at the same time very simple and a little complicated.... meaning that there is a good amount of measuring and prep/chopping work to be done, but once you get past that, it's quick and easy to put it all together.  Certainly worth the effort.

For 3 very large bowls of Pho, each big and filling enough to be a meal in and of itself, do the following:

Ingredients

• 8 ounces of Ribeye/Delmonico Beef, fat trimmed off  
• One 8-ounce container of Rice Noodles (I used Ka-Me brand Vermicelli Rice Sticks
• 1.5 large Scallions
• 1/2 of a large Onion  
• 6 cups of Swanson 100% Fat Free Lower Sodium Beef Broth
• 1/2 cup of Bean Sprouts
• 1 red chili pepper
• Fresh cilantro
• Basil leaves

Accompaniments

• lime quarters
• hot chile sauce (we use Tuong Ot Sriracha)

Directions

1. Soak the noodles in cold water for 10 minutes.  Drain.
2. In a soup pot bring two quarts of water to a boil.  Add the drained noodles and cook them for seven minutes at a rolling boil, stirring occasionally until they tender.
3. Rinse the noodles under cold running water and set aside.
4. Slice the raw beef into thin strips and set aside.
5. Bring the broth to a boil over high heat.
6. While you are waiting for the broth to boil, thinly slice the scallions and onions, chop up the cilantro and the red chile pepper, quarter the lime, and prepare the basil leaves.
7. To serve, divide the noodles among 3 large individual serving bowls.
8. Arrange the thinly sliced raw beef, scallions, onion, and cilantro on top.
9. Pour boiling hot broth to cover noodles and serve immediately.  The boiling broth will cook the thin slices of beef.
10. Pho is traditionally accompanied by bean sprouts, basil leaves, cilantro, lime wedges, red chili peppers and hot chile sauce – which can be served on the side for each person to use as they wish.

Per serving, there are:

• 439 calories
• 23 g protein
• 74 g carbs
• 6 g fat
• 1 g fiber
• 1,066 mg sodium