Im Cooking Something Different For Dinner Tonight...

[Lee]

Im going to try my hand at making a butternut squash and sweet potato soup instead of steak with all the trimmings, both Gary and i are on the same page about our eating habits so im hoping this is going to be the start of a healthy food kick for the next few months

Will let you know how it turns out (and tastes) in a couple of hours time

Regards,

Lee

[Lee]

Well i gotta say, the soup came out REALLY well :thumbsup:

Here is the recipe if you wanna try it for yourself....

Ingredients

1 butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and diced
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
2 carrots, trimmed, peeled and sliced
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and chopped
6 shallots, peeled and finely sliced
1 wheat-free vegetable stock cube
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped

Method

Bring a large pan half-filled with water to the boil. Add the squash, sweet potato, carrots, fennel, shallots and stock cube. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10-12 minutes.

Remove from the heat and add the garlic. Allow to cool, then strain the vegetables into a large bowl and keep the stock.

Add half the stock to the vegetables and blend in a food processor or with a hand-held blender.

The hardest part of this was actually peeling and cutting the butternut squash, i actually ended up taking a mallet to the knife to cut it in to chunks as i didnt realize it was so tough.

Im definately going to be making this again though, it was really sweet even though there was no added sugar in it and it was very filling (we still have more than 1/2 a pan left).

Regards,

Lee

[Dzinerbear]

I don't know how you peeled it, but here's what I did and it worked like a charm.

Place the fat end on a cutting board, then hold the stump in one hand. Using a whisking motion, slide the knife down the sides of the squash, kind of like you're skinning a branch or stick. You can turn the squash slowly until you've worked your way all the way around. The skin came off pretty easily for me. Cutting it into manageable chunks once peeled is definitely a challenge, but this should help you skin the squash.

You can also just throw all the ingredients into a a crock pot and let it cook for a while. It's a lot easier than all that blendering.

Michael

[Lee]

Thats pretty much how i tried peeling it, it could have been a shitty knife or thick skin on the squash though i guess.

Next time ill try using a different knife and see if that works any better.

You are right to, cutting it in chunks was kinda difficult although not as bad as the peeliing for me.

I also figured it would have had seeds all the way through the center not just the bottom couple of inches.

Regards,

Lee

[badpuppyben]

If you blanch the butternut squash for a couple of minutes before trying to do anything with it, then immediately put it in the fridge (to stop it from cooking) it makes peeling and chopping 10x easier

[Lee]

If you blanch the butternut squash for a couple of minutes before trying to do anything with it, then immediately put it in the fridge (to stop it from cooking) it makes peeling and chopping 10x easier

Cool thanks for the tip Ben

Regards,

Lee