Cooking the harvest

Now that eggs are back, in one store, anyway, and the last farmshare is in the kitchen, and yeast was once more obtainable in the store, all these happy events triggered a wild frenzy of cooking. Yesterday it was four loaves of wholewheat bread, one big loaf of squash bread, a pan of roasted french fry sweet potatoes (these can freeze), and today it was curried squash soup.

 I checked the Silver Palate cookbook for a soup recipe (Soup Suppers declined to offer one, why, Arthur, why) and after noting that of the requirements of the SP I did not have: a food processor, apple juice, whole apples, and chicken stock, I concluded I was on my own.

 Just using (farm) onion, chopped, with several teaspoonsful of curry powder and a dash of turmeric, extra to what's in the curry powder anyway, cooked gently for about 25 minutes, then a big butternut squash, chopped, three cups of broccoli water (from the steaming pot when I cooked the b., waste not, want not)added, to the boil, then on low heat, then to cut the rawness of the curry, some plain unsweetened fatfree yogurt, well from all this came out a stop-the-presses good soup. You do need an immersion blender for this kind of soup, so as to get exactly the consistency you like. At least I do, not being trustworthy with pouring hot liquids in and out of blenders.

 And with sizzling croutons from the bread I baked yesterday, in olive oil with plenty of salt and pepper and garlic crushed, just served right on top of the soup, this was really really good. And there are now two containers of it in the freezer.