From Harvest to Table | Acorn Thai Soup

It is that time of year when all I see in my favorite Farmer's Market is quash! Yes all of them : pumpkins {with matching huge pumpkin patch!} butternut, spaghetti, delicata, buttercup, ambercup, name it and you see it! Over the years, I tried cooking each kind of squash to find out which I like best. I find that they differ in moisture content, texture and of course taste. My 3 favorite kinds are : ambercup, spaghetti squash and acorn. I find them buttery. flavorful and moist, One of their common denominator that I like the least.....  ALL of them are hard to peel! 

If I am cooking soup and want to serve it in the "squash bowl", I prefer cooking with acorn. Its size and shape are perfect as a serving bowl without compromising the flavour. For this soup recipe, I used roasted acorn. That way, I don't need to peel and was able to save the cup for serving.

Before baking, cut acorn squash crosswise in half. Remove seeds. With a sharp knife, carefully trim both ends of squash so that it can stand without being wobbly. Place squash on a cookie sheet {with trimmed ends at the bottom of the sheet}. Sprinkle each squash with salt and pepper and bake at a pre- heated 350 degrees F oven. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until tender. When done and cool enough to handle, scoop out meat and set aside for soup recipe below. 

Remember : if you are using the squash as a serving bowl, leave enough meat on the squash to make a sturdy bowl.

Acorn Squash Thai Soup

Ingredients

3 cups meat of roasted acorn squash {I previously roasted 2 big sized acorn squash. See procedures above}
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 small onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 big thumb-sized fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
2 bay leaves
1 can {400 ml} good quality coconut milk
2 and 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp green curry paste
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
salt and pepper

Procedure 

In a large cooking pot, heat cooking oil over medium heat,
Saute onion, garlic, ginger and bay leaf. When onion is cooked, add roasted acorn squash. Mix and cook for 2 minutes to incorporate the flavour.
Add coconut milk, vegetable broth, fish, sauce, curry paste and cilantro leaves. Stir. Simmer for 5-10 minutes while stirring regularly.
Turn off heat. Puree using am immersion blender {or puree by batches using regular blender}
Re-heat on the stove and season with salt and pepper.
At this point, you can add more broth to achieve desired soup consistency.
Serve on acorn "squash bowl".

Bon appetit! ทานให้อร่อยนะครับ/คะ 


Linking with : THE SCOOP  *  TWEAK IT TUESDAY  *  WORK IT WEDNESDAY  *  SHARE YOUR CUP THURSDAY  *  TREASURE HUNT THURSDAY