Kabocha Squash Soup

For the past couple of weeks, clouds loomed overhead, making everything look so dark and dreary. I felt the need to make something warm and comforting. Thus came to mind the makings of this soup. It did the trick and lifted my spirits up. Thoughts of having it for leftovers made me look forward to coming home after a long day of work. This soup made me forget my worries (for the moment, at least). Comfort food at its best!

 

The cooking process takes a little over an hour. Please do not let it daunt you though, sometimes, a long cooking process is almost therapeutic.

You start with cutting the squash open and giving it an olive oil, salt, pepper, and sage rub. Then you roast it for about half an hour. On the upside, if you roast the squash before putting it into a soup, you won’t have to deal with all the pain that comes with removing the thick skin off. All you need to do is scoop out the now softened flesh and dump it into a pot with the chicken broth.

 

While the squash is roasting, you can prepare the rest of the ingredients and sauté them. You just set aside the sautéed veggies and throw it into the soup when cooking time is almost over.  

 

Kabocha squash has a rich texture and a natural sweetness which makes for a good, savory soup. Since I like to chew my food, I stir fried some vegetables to give this soup a delicious, chunky oomph. The addition of earthy Shiitake mushrooms and juicy bell peppers adds character to the soup and the fresh ginger lends a nice, spicy warmth and zing.

This rich and creamy squash soup is what you need for cold and rainy days. If food can feel like a warm hug, this is it.   

 

Kabocha Squash Soup (Makes 4 servings)

2.4 lbs. Kabocha squash (more or less)
olive oil
fresh sage leaves
salt
pepper, freshly ground
 
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
6-8 pieces shiitake mushrooms, torn into small pieces
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 inch nub of ginger, crushed and minced
 
2 ½ cups chicken broth
¼ cup heavy cream
¼ tsp allspice
fresh basil, to garnish

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Slice the squash in half or quarters and scoop out seeds and strings. Place the squash pieces in a roasting pan. Slather the flesh with olive oil and generously sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Scatter the sage leaves on top and roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the ingredients.   

Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, but not smoking, sauté the garlic until it turns golden brown. Add the shiitake mushrooms and cook for about 2 minutes until it starts to soak up the oil. Toss in the ginger and let cook for about a minute until it is fragrant. Stir in the diced bell pepper and let cook until it glistens, about 2 minutes. Turn the burner off and remove the pan away from the heat. Set aside.

Allow the squash to cool down first before handling it. Burning your fingers is not worth it! In my case, I roasted it the day before and kept it in the refrigerator. Scoop the squash pulp into a medium size pot. Pour in the chicken broth and cover. Turn the heat on to medium and bring to a rolling boil. Once the broth is boiling, remove the cover and mash the squash with a potato masher, a fork, or a thick wooden spatula (what have you). The first mash will still leave you with some chunks, that’s ok.

Cover the pot partially and allow to boil for another 3-5 minutes. Mash some more until the squash resembles a puree. Turn the heat down to medium low and let cook, uncovered, for 10-12 minutes until the soup thickens. Stir in the sauteed vegetables, pour the heavy cream, and toss in the allspice. Let cook for 10 more minutes. Taste and see if you need salt and pepper, I didn’t need to add any.

Serve hot with a garnish of fresh basil. Best enjoyed with some good bread, or better yet, a radish with fleur de sel bruschetta.

 

November 2, 1983

- card from DFJ and what's left of my birthday cake (made by him)

I turned 29 yesterday.

Since the Philippines is about a day ahead, birthday greetings started coming a day early from my family. They sang me a birthday song, which made my heart ache. I miss everyone so and wish that someday we could all be together again. Thank you Ma, for gathering everyone to celebrate my special day even if I’m so far away. I love you!    

I woke up with a need to make cookies so I can share them with my students and the rest of my classroom staff. Smitten Kitchen, thank you for this lovely cookie recipe. I just slightly veered away from the original recipe by using whole wheat flour and adding orange zest. What a perfect way to start my morning!

 

All throughout the day, my sweet students and coworkers greeted me with big hugs, beautiful smiles, cute cards, birthday jokes, and a loud birthday chorus. I love you guys! Thank you for making me feel like Ms. Princess Teacher!  

DFJ invited some friends over and everyone gathered for some good food, drinks, and games… DFJ Blackeye Pea Relish with chips, DFJ margaritas, bread and delicious cheeses (from Scott and Anna), beer and lots of fruits (from Rod and Melissa), a great salad “with almonds” and wine (from Wes and Elissa), and some homemade chicken tikka masala, pancit (a Filipino noodle dish), rice, and naan. Our friends, Jo and Roslyn, came later and made it on time to sing me a birthday song and enjoy DFJ’s salted caramel chocolate cake! Thank you so much, dear friends, for celebrating my birthday with me!

DFJ, thank you for the good (and sometimes rough) times. Two years ago, you declined my invitation to my birthday dessert party, even though my friends and I were just at the Dairy Queen across from your apartment (hmph!)… a week after that, you gave me a white spatula as a late present. Yesterday, you gathered our good friends to celebrate another year of my life, and made me a cake! We have come a long way and I feel so blessed to have you in my life. Thank you for your love. I love you too, you know?

P.S.
Every time I’m having a good time, I get so caught up in the moment and forget to take pictures… or I just feel awkward interrupting the moment. So, I have nothing to show for from my birthday party but the aftermath. Now, I’m off to take care of this… anyone wanna come over and help??? We have leftovers!

 

Baked Mango-Orange Custard

I have been skipping The Food Matters Project for a few weeks now due to some life circumstances. But now that things are winding down, I am back into this! My Food Matters Project friends, I missed you all and am looking forward to the weekly FMP post check-ins with each other.   

It is just perfect that this week’s recipe, Baked Pumpkin-Orange Custard, chosen by Sandra of Meadows Knits, is so fast and easy to make. I love how this recipe is so in season and festive too! Check out her post for the original Mark Bittman recipe.  

As much as I loved the idea of a pumpkin-orange custard, I wanted to take a break from my squash obsession these days. There’s the Butternut Squash Tikka Masala and the Kabocha, Pear, Fontina Sandwich, and a Kabocha Soup recipe coming up this week. For the rest of fall and all throughout winter, squash will be hanging out in my kitchen. So, I decided to go for some exotic and tropical custard. Something that reminds me of home, especially during these cold, dreary days… Baked Mango-Orange Custard.

 

The traditional custard base is usually a mixture of milk or cream and egg yolks and is cooked in a double boiler. However, this particular recipe veers from that and uses silken tofu instead of milk or cream and includes the egg yolks. Since I used more tofu than Mr. Bittman requires and also substituted mangoes for the pumpkin (which is not as creamy when pureed), the result is not the expected melt in your mouth smoothness that traditional custard lends. My custard is a little on the watery side and slightly lumpy.

In spite of the lack of silkiness that I love in traditional custards, this one is a wonderful low-fat and low sugar alternative. A trade-off that I am willing to take because of my dessert addiction. This delightful custard reminds me of a zesty flan. The orange flavor really stands out and the mangoes give it a lovely, sweet and tangy taste.    

 

Baked Mango-Orange Custard

Adapted from Mark Bittman’s Baked Pumpkin-Orange Custard from The Food Matters Cookbook

a tad of butter to grease the baking dish

1 lb silken tofu, drained of extra liquid
1/3 cup brown sugar (the original recipe required ¾ cup)
zest and juice of 1 orange
2 ripe mangoes, seed and skin removed
¼ tsp ginger powder
¼ tsp ground allspice
a pinch of salt
2 large eggs
 
Place a rack in the middle slot and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a glass baking dish with butter. (Note: If you are not using a glass baking dish, reduce the heat to 350 degrees F.)  

Put the silken tofu, brown sugar, orange zest, and orange juice in a blender. Cover and blend on low for about 30 seconds until smooth. Add the mango pulp into the blender, cover and blend on low for about a minute, until the mango is pureed. Make sure the blender is OFF when you stir in the ginger, allspice, and salt. You will want to use a plastic spatula to stir these in initially, otherwise the powders will just sit on top. Remove the spatula, cover, and blend for about 20-30 seconds. Add the eggs and blend on low for about 45 seconds until everything is well mixed.

Bake for an hour. The top should turn a light, golden brown and appear to look set, but still jiggly in the middle. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack. Let the custard cool completely or refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.         

Enjoy a guilt-free treat!

P.S. Head on over to The Food Matters Project website and check out the creations that the rest of the FMP members came up with!

P.P.S To all friends in the East Coast, stay safe and take care… you are in my thoughts!

These Days

Life is hectic these days… having a full time teaching job, a marathon of parent meetings after school, physical therapy appointments for my shoulder, squeezing in time for workouts, carving out a good 30 minutes for shoulder strengthening exercises every single night, and weekend trips to Portland to see my family, leave me with just barely enough time to cook or bake.

DFJ has been really sweet and has taken on cooking for us and doing dishes and all those other things that I just have no energy left for. So the other night, I offered to make dinner. However, he ended up doing the biggest part of the job that my broken shoulder, scrawny arms, and short height would not allow me to do… cutting open this Kabocha squash.

 

I had great big plans of making soup, but after we got home from the gym, I couldn’t muster up the brain power needed to come up with a good recipe. Furthermore, I did not have any patience for chopping and peeling an entire Kabocha squash into cubes. After a very small part was cut into cubes, I gave up and just proceeded to slice another small part into big Cs. The cubes went into a delicious soup that I just threw together and because it was so good, I recreated it last night (recipe share for the soup will be on the next post).

 

The few squash slices were tossed with some olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roasted in the oven for a couple of minutes. They barely made it on top of this delightful open face sandwich because all I wanted to do was eat them right off the pan. Kabocha squash has a sweet flavor and is earthy and rich, reminiscent of sweet potatoes and butternut squash. The roasted slices turned slightly crispy on the bottom but remained tender on top and were so good! They reminded me of sweet potato fries.

This fall sandwich is more of an idea rather than a precise step by step recipe. I used Fontina cheese but also encourage you to try different kinds: Brie, Gruyere, goat cheese, or maybe some sharp cheddar would be good. Add some fresh herbs too, if you want, perhaps some sage or basil. It is key to use good bread... sourdough, French bread, Pugliese, whatever you pick, make sure it's good quality. Life is too short to eat crappy bread! I got these gorgeous baguettes from Ken's Artisan Bakery when I was in Portland this weekend. That bakery is just lovely!

I love the savory and sweet flavors of this sandwich. The mild and creamy melted Fontina cheese, flavorful Kabocha squash, and sweet and juicy pear slices rounded up the sandwich beautifully. This is the kind of sandwich that will make you smile and think of all the simple things that give you pleasure…      

 

Kabocha, Pear, Fontina Sandwich

a small section of a Kabocha squash

olive oil
salt
pepper, freshly ground
good baguette
pear, sliced thinly
Fontina cheese

 
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Cut a quarter off from an entire squash. Slice that section into Cs about 1/8 of an inch thick. Toss the slices with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast in the oven for 15-18 minutes until the bottoms are slightly browned.

Cut 1/4-1/2 inch thick slices of bread. Lay the cheese and then the pear slices on top of the bread pieces and place in the oven. Bake for a few minutes, about 5 or so just until the cheese melts. Top with the roasted squash and serve warm.

Eat the sandwich in front of your favorite show and just enjoy your evening!