Squash, Sweet Potato, and Carrot Soup
Here’s a funny story for you. Do you remember the big pumpkin harvest last year? We had dozens of them… loads, actually. So I was determined to make a pumpkin soup everyone would love so that we could eat it a couple of times a week on completely homegrown food with the rooster broth and Mabel’s cream.
So I made a couple of flops that only Stewart and I liked, did some googling, made a few more flops and repeated googling. After I don’t know how many different attempts, I gave up and just canned the rest of them and fed the good parts of the few remaining molding ones to the cow. Every single batch I made, at least some of my children rejected. Elijah even took spoonful after spoonful, nose down, determination written all over his face. When I asked him how he liked it, he very respectfully said “I’m trying not to gag”.
So when I threw this one together last week, I was prepared for negative reviews. At the first bite Elijah said “It’s not bad,” in a way that let me know he actually meant it. Victory, I thought. Perhaps just a few sweet potatoes in the pot made all the difference.
So a day or so went by and I had written down the recipe thinking that finally we had cracked the code. I mentioned posting the recipe here stating Elijah’s enthusiasm for this batch as proof that it was “bloggable”. And that’s when my boy decided it was truth time.
“It was good at first,” he said timidly and immediately I knew I’d read the situation wrong. Apparently the second half of the bowl was barely choke-down material and he did it in silence, me thinking all along how wonderful it was that he was enjoying a big bowl of squash soup.
Well, I was wrong. But since most of us thought it a tasty pot of soup, and someone requested the recipe in my previous post, here it is in all of its love-it or hate-it glory.
Maybe you have a favorite pumpkin or squash soup you can share in the comments that is widely popular among children?
Squash, Sweet Potato, and Carrot Soup
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
- 4 medium sweet potatoes, chopped
- 4 medium carrots, chopped
- 2 quarts chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons coconut sugar
- salt to taste
- 1/2 – 1 cup heavy cream and red pepper flakes to serve
Directions
In a large pot over medium heat, saute the onion in the coconut oil until softened. Add all of the vegetables, broth, and spices and bring to a simmer. Cover and allow to cook for 20-30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove lid and allow to simmer an additional 10 minutes to cook down some of the liquid.
Remove from heat and very carefully blend using an immersion blender or counter-top blender. Stir in the vinegar and coconut sugar and add salt as needed.
Ladle into bowls and stir in two tablespoons of fresh raw cream per bowl and sprinkle with red pepper flakes as desired.
Oh no! Bless his little heart for trying to not hurt your feelings! I think I’m kind of like your boy Elijah, it’s really not about liking it so much as there’s only so much I can eat at one time. I can usually eat only a small bowl of something like this and I’ve gotten my fill. Have you perhaps tried a Thai version of pumpkin soup? I like those savory ones better (with coconut milk, fish sauce, perhaps curry, etc.) than the sweet ones with cinnamon, etc. Here’s a couple links that sounded appealing to me (no tofu, of course!): https://www.thespruceeats.com/thai-pumpkin-coconut-soup-recipe-3217690 or http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/4900/pumpkin-soup-with-thai-spices.aspx or https://www.thekiwicountrygirl.com/thai-spiced-pumpkin-soup/ (I wouldn’t do nutmeg in this one) I do hope you find something your whole family enjoys!
He just may not care for squash, no matter how good the soup. I don’t feel well after eating squash, so I understand. How sweet that he is so polite about it. ?
This looks like a recipe I would enjoy, but the rest of my family would choke on. One thing I have found to help my family eat squash or pumpkin type soups is to add a few strips of bacon. After frying up the bacon and setting aside to crumble on at the end, I use the grease to saute my onions and then cook as normal. Adding the bacon adds a dimension that most of my family will then eat.
Mainly though I bake up my squash and pumpkins in the fall and freeze in 1-2 cup batches and then add to soup, spaghetti sauce, pancakes, muffins and just about anything. This way we are still getting the goodness of these amazing veggies while putting it in things my family will eat.
This looks a lot like the recipe I use, except instead of the “sweet” seasonings, my recipe has savory ones – parsley, basil, oregano, and plenty of salt. (Also garlic, onion, and celery.) My family enjoys it more than any other squash soup I’ve tried. Maybe a soup seasoned that way was among the fails though?! ?
This looks good. I would like to try it, but I have never even had tumeric in my house before – is there something else I could substitute for that or is it really necessary?
Hi,
I am happy to share my pumpkin soup recipe. I shared it on my blogs last post, but will write
it here for you. Everyone loves this soup, my grandchildren included.
Pumpkin Soup: 1 x large (2 lb) deep orange flesh pumpkin (as dry – mature as possible).
1 x onion, 2 tomatoes – dice all
1 clove garlic crushed
butter – 1T /olive oil – 2 T
salt & pepper
curry powder – 2 teaspoons
Brown sugar – 2 teaspoons
Cream
Chicken stock cube – or powder – 4 t
Method:
Saute the onion/garlic in butter and olive oil in a large pot. Add the brown sugar and curry powder. Cook until sizzling. Add the pumpkin diced and tomatoes. Almost cover the mixture with water (about 3/4 the
way up the pumpkin cubes.) Add the chicken stock powder. Put lid on. Bring to the boil and cook under
the pumpkin is tender. Puree the mixture with an immersion blender. Add 1/4 – 1/2 cup of cream.
Ladle into bowls, add a sprinkling of chopped parsley and a swirl of cream. Enjoy
I make the very straight up, easy soup below (with the changes I make noted). In our house cheese makes almost everything palatable! The original recipe was from David Rocco but I can’t find it online. He has a new version that adds ginger and cumin but is essentially the same.
Ingredients
4 tbsp (60 mL) olive oil (I use butter)
1 potato, cubed
1 1/4 lb (625 g) butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 cups (750 mL) vegetable stock (or chicken stock, whatever’s handy)
1/2 cup (125 mL) whipping cream (35%) (or half and half etc.)
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (or whatever cheese is around)
Drizzle with truffle or olive oil (I don’t do this part)
Instructions
Heat extra virgin olive oil/butter in a pot over medium-high. Add the potato, butternut squash, and salt and pepper. The smaller the vegetable cubes, the faster they cook (the goal is to caramelize them slightly and get the flavours going). When they’re slightly brown and soft, add as much vegetable/chicken stock as needed to cover the vegetables. Turn down the heat to medium and cook until the vegetables are fork-tender, about 15 minutes. Blend/puree until it reaches a silky, even consistency. Add the cream and cook on medium low for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve or finish each serving with a sprinkle (or a lot more) of parmigiano and drizzle of truffle or olive oil.
Did your young man say what about the soup he didn’t like? Maybe one of the spices?
This pumpkin soup has been a winner for my family of 7 children –
4-5 cups pumkin puree
2-3 cups broth (add more or less depending on the thickness you prefer)
2Tbsp + honey (add more to taste)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup cream or milk or half&half
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground thyme
Salt & pepper to taste
*Combine puree & broth and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Stir in thyme, nutmeg, vinegar and honey. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add cream and stif just until blended. Add salt pepper to taste. Enjoy!