Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger and Apples

I have never met anyone who doesn’t like butternut squash soup.  Really, I never have.  Even picky eaters will happily gobble it up.  I happen to love it, too, and there is nothing like the smell of carmelizing squash to make your stomach rumble.

The thing that is great about this soup is that it is so versatile– it can be a starter for an Autumnal-themed meal, or can be the main dish itself.  You can spice it up with anything you like, (omit the curry powder, perhaps, or add  mint or cilantro or even thai basil).  You can make it vegan by using just the coconut milk and some water, or you can add chicken stock if you like.  You can use pears instead of the apples, or acorn/kubota squash.  So many possibilities! And of course it is delicious just as is.

Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger and Apples
Adapted From Ina Garten

2 tbs unsalted butter
2 tbs good olive oil
1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, grated
4 cups chopped yellow onions (3 large)
2 tablespoons mild curry powder
5 pounds butternut squash (2 large)
1 1/2 pounds sweet apples, such as McIntosh (4 apples)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups water  (or coconut milk, which is what I used)
2 cups good apple cider or juice

Warm the butter, olive oil, onions, and curry powder in a large stockpot uncovered over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until the onions are tender. Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pot.

Peel the squash, cut in half, and remove the seeds. Cut the squash into chunks. Peel, quarter, and core the apples. Cut into chunks.

Add the squash, apples, ginger, salt, pepper, and 2 cups of water to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook over low heat for 30 to 40 minutes, until the squash and apples are very soft. Process the soup through a food mill fitted with a large blade, or puree it coarsely in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

Pour the soup back into the pot. Add the apple cider or juice and enough water to make the soup the consistency you like; it should be slightly sweet and quite thick. Check the salt and pepper and serve hot.

Pumpkin-Ginger Rice Pudding

When I was a little girl, my grandmother always made rice pudding when we visited because my mother loved it so.  It was the one treat that I didn’t care for, which the other women in my family deemed downright crazy.  At the time I had no idea why I didn’t like it, only that I wouldn’t touch the stuff with a ten-foot pole.  Looking back, I think it was combination of the raisins (which as an adult I still don’t like), and the overwhelming (to me) piquancy of the nutmeg sprinkled generously on top.  I also thought it was weird to put rice in dessert.  Why ruin a good thing like pudding with those annoying grains of rice?

Organic pumpkin and farm-fresh eggs

Unfortunately, rice pudding is still one of those things I haven’t developed a liking for.  I would never choose to eat it myself, but my mom loves it and so when she comes to visit I always make it for her.  I wanted to do something different with it this time, and this recipe from Gourmet Magazine caught my eye.

The basis of any good pudding/custard is, of course, good milk and eggs.  I don’t purchase these items very often because I am allergic to cow’s milk and also to eggs, but when I do purchase them I am very strict about where they come from.  We don’t purchase animal products from the supermarket because we are cognizant of the horrors of feedlot conditions, and I hope the latest egg scare will bring more awareness to the issue of how animals are raised for our food.  In any case, because we have such amazing local farmers here in Seattle, I am fortunate enough to be able to use eggs from Stokesberry Farms and fresh milk from Sea Breeze Farms, the combination of which made the silkiest golden custard.

I did try a bite of the finished result, and I must say it was really good.  My husband, who looked dubious when served his first bite, is now a rice pudding convert.  We have come a long way since  the days of raisins and nutmeg, it seems.

Pumpkin-Ginger Rice Pudding
From Gourmet

1 (1 1/2- to 2-pound) piece pumpkin or butternut squash, halved and seeded
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2/3 cup long-grain white rice
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 cups whole milk
8 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger (2 ounces)
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar such as Sugar in the Raw (optional)

Special equipment: a blowtorch (optional)

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F.
Arrange each piece of pumpkin, cut side up, on a sheet of foil. Top each with 1/2 tablespoon butter and 1 teaspoon granulated sugar. Wrap separately in foil and bake, cut sides up, in a shallow baking pan until flesh is tender, about 1 hour.

Open foil and cool pumpkin slightly, then scoop flesh into a food processor and purée until smooth.
Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.

Cook rice while pumpkin bakes:  Heat rice, salt, 4 cups milk, and remaining 2/3 cup granulated sugar in a 2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until very hot. Transfer to a large metal bowl set over a large saucepan of simmering water (or to a double boiler) and cook over low heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender and most of milk is absorbed, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. (Add more simmering water to saucepan if necessary.) Remove pan from heat and keep rice warm, covered.

Make pudding:  Lightly whisk yolks in a large bowl, then whisk in vanilla, ginger, 1 1/3 cups pumpkin purée (reserve remainder for another use), and remaining cup milk. Gradually stir in warm rice, then pour mixture into a buttered 2-quart flameproof shallow baking dish (not glass). Set baking dish in a roasting pan and bake pudding in a hot water bath , uncovered, in oven until set, 50 minutes to 1 hour.

If caramelizing pudding, sprinkle evenly with turbinado sugar, then move blowtorch flame evenly back and forth over sugar until sugar is melted and caramelized. Serve warm or at room temperature.