We have kind of been in a food rut lately. Making the same good ol' standbys for dinner each week. I feel like I've exhausted my resources of good vegetarian meals (at least online), so Sunday Brad and I visited The Root Cafe for a cup of coffee with a bag full of cookbooks that hadn't been read in a while, determined to find some new recipes. Our search paid off with this winning recipe for squash, sweet potato and ginger soup found in Wholefood. We had to make a few alterations due to what we did and didn't have on hand, and we felt it needed some heat to balance the natural sweetness, so we added red pepper flakes. This recipe will definitely become a regular in our repetoire!
Squash, Sweet Potato & Ginger Soup
- olive oil
- 2-3 small leeks, well rinsed and finely sliced (or 1 large onion, diced)
- 1 1/2 piece ginger, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 bunch cilantro, stems roughly chopped, leaves left whole (we used parsley)
- 2 lbs winter squash [butternut or jap (kent)] peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 medium sweet potato, roughly chopped
- 5 C water (enough to just cover the vegetables, I think we used 6 1/2)
- tamari, to taste
- finely ground black pepper, to taste
- pear juice concentrate, optional (we did not have this)
- coconut milk, to finish, optional
Heat 1 T olive oil in a large heavy-based saucepan. Add the leeks, ginger, garlic and cilantro stems, sprinkle generously with salt & pepper and saute gently over a low heat for 10 minutes. Add red pepper flakes (1 T or so). Saute another minute or two. Add the squash, sweet potato and water. Cover with a lid and cook over a gentle heat for 30 minutes.
At this point, you can cool the soup slightly and tranfer to a blender & puree. We prefer chunky soup, so I skipped this step. Check for taste, adding tamari and pepper if necessary or a small amount of pear juice concentrate to deepen and balance the flavor. Serve sprinkled with cilantro leaves and drizzled with a little coconut milk.
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