Squash Soup in Pumpkin Bowls

Day 24-Well another day, another meal cooked. Things seem to be going better in the kitchen this week, so I’m going to leave last weeks burning mess behind me. Do I have more confidence? Ah, not really. I’m just walking into the kitchen and telling myself whatever happens is not the end of the world…and take out can always be ordered! Last nights meal was exciting. Edible bowls!! I love edible bowls! It’s the small things in life that make me the happiest. I was standing in the check out line one Sunday and saw the cover of a magazine (Food Network Oct, 2010 issue), it showed pumpkins filled with some yummy goodness. So I looked closer and discovered it was butternut squash soup in the pumpkin with a slew of lovely toppings. Of course I bought the magazine and put Squash Soup in Pumpkin Bowls on the menu for this week.

I went to the Farmer’s Market to buy the squash. I purchased one butternut squash for the soup and two acorn squash for the bowls. I didn’t see baking pumpkins anywhere, but the recipe says you can use acorn too. Looking at the squash last night I knew right away that I was going to need help in the kitchen. So I recruited Anthony to make the bottoms of the acorn squash flat and to cut the tops off. He also scooped out the fibers and seeds inside them. Then he peeled, seeded, and cut the butternut squash for me too. What a doll! It’s an easy night of cooking for me, if I don’t have to cut a ton of veggies. We saved the seeds from all of the squash to plant in the garden. That’s something to look forward too!

Once you season the acorn squash with salt and sugar, you bake them at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes. Then you need to start the soup. You melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a pot, then add ½ a small onion, 1 teaspoon of salt, and thyme leaves. Cook until the onion is soft then put the butternut squash and sugar in the pot and get the squash nice and glazed. Next 5 cups of water is added and you bring it to a boil. Then you lower it to a simmer and cook until the squash is tender. Basically after that you just blend it all up (in batches) and add some heavy cream if you want to. Done. You can add a variety of different toppings. I used crumbled bacon, paprika, fried onions, and green pumpkin seeds. I served it with sourdough bread.

Final Product:

Yeah this was good. The soup seemed a bit more watery than I normally like soup, but with the addition of the edible bowls it worked nicely. You could scrape some of the bowl into your soup or onto your spoon to give the soup more texture. It was very good. I couldn’t get enough of the acorn squash, it was very yummy. This will definitely be made again for dinner and hopefully next year we will have our own butternut and acorn squash to use. Try this one! It would really be a great dish for entertaining. Everyone loves edible bowls!

Well that wasn’t too scary. Of course I had some help, but a girl can’t do EVERYTHING by herself. I’m taking a break from cooking tonight to enjoy some leftover chili and soup. I’ll be back with a new shrimp dish in a few days.

Thanks for reading! If you want any of the recipes please use the link to the left called Recipes Used for The Hesitant Cook.