Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup with Maple Spiced Pepitas
Deeply roasted squash, garlic, onion, fennel, and carrot blended with aromatic herbs & spices to make the Fall soup of your dreams. Slightly adapted from Fare Isle's recipe via Coyuchi.com (links in post).
Servings: 4 servings
Equipment
- Blender - Immersion or standard
Ingredients
Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup
- 1.5 lb Kabocha squash*
- 1/2 lg sweet onion, peeled
- 2 lg carrots, peeled
- 1 small fennel bulb
- 3 cloves garlic, skin on
- 1/2 tsp sea salt, +more to taste
- 3 T olive oil, divided
- 1/4 c white rice, rinsed
- 4 c water
- 2 T low sodium soy sauce or tamari
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- several sprigs fresh thyme or sage
- plain yogurt (dairy or non-dairy), to top
Maple Spiced Pepitas
- 1/4 c raw pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- pinch sea salt
Instructions
Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup
- Preheat oven to 400°F
- Cut squash into 4-6 large pieces and scoop out the seeds. Leave the skin on.
- Cut the onion in half.
- Cut the carrots into quarters.
- Remove the heart of the fennel bulb (the tough part in the middle), and cut into quarters.
- Put squash, onion, carrots and fennel on to a large cookie sheet along with the garlic cloves (leave the skin on). Drizzle with 2T of olive oil and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp sea salt.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until the squash is fork tender and the other veggies are cooked through and starting to caramelize.
- While the veggies roast, add the water, rice, 1T olive oil, and the remaining seasonings to a large dutch oven or stock pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer with the lid cracked for 10 minutes or until the rice is cooked through. Remove from heat, and remove the thyme/sage sprigs.
- Once the veggies are done roasting, allow to cool just until you can handle the squash.
- Scoop squash flesh from the skin and remove the garlic skin. Add all the roasted veggies to your broth, and blend with an immersion blender until creamy and smooth. (Alternatively, blend in batches in a blender, then return to the pot). If it's too thick, add more water (1/2 c or so).
- Warm the blended soup on low heat to your desired temperature. Add more salt to taste.
- To serve, scoop into bowls and top with a dollop of plain greek yogurt and the Maple Spiced Pepitas.
Maple Spiced Pepitas
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Line a small cookie sheet with parchment or silicone baking mat.
- Mix all ingredients together, then spread onto the cookie sheet in a thin layer.
- Bake for 5-8 minutes, or until pepitas start to puff up and brown. Watch them closely to make sure they don't burn.
Notes
*You can also use buttercup squash (as in the original recipe), or hubbard or even butternut should work great as well.