Koginut squash soup

This soup is so creamy, herby, warm, and comforting—everything a bowl of soup should be. I use Koginut, which is a cross between the butternut and kabocha varieties of squash, but use anything you have on hand!

Yes, soup for you!

The koginut is my new favorite squash. It has the thick, creamy flesh of a kabocha squash but the mellow, sweet flavor of a butternut. If you can’t find one, have no fear. Basically any winter squash variety would be perfect here and all roast in roughly the same way. I’ve also used 2 extra large sweet potatoes in a pinch and the soup turned out equally delicious.

A note about roasting: One important element of this roasting method is to NOT trim the tops and bottom of the squash. Leaving them whole means that the steam gets trapped in the cavity of the squash so that it roasts and steams at the same time.

Also! In the recipe, you’ll note that I put the milk high up on the ingredients list even though we don’t add it until the end. That’s because, bringing it to room temperature and even microwaving it a bit makes it less likely that the milk solids will separate, which can happen if the cold milk is shocked by the hot soup. You can warm it in a pan on the stove while the soup simmers, but who wants to make another dish or worry about something scalding?

Koginut squash soup 

Time: About 90 minutes, less than half of it active
Yield: 10 cups of soup 

3 cups roasted squash, about 1 medium winter squash or 2 very large sweet potatoes 
½ cup heavy cream or half and half 
1 Tbsp olive oil
½ large onion or 2 large shallots, roughly chopped 
5 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped 
1 Tbsp butter 
3 stems fresh thyme or ¼ tsp dried 
Heaping ¼ tsp cumin
Heaping ¼ tsp paprika 
1 tsp sea salt 
4-6 cups low sodium chicken stock 
2 Tbsp brown sugar (optional)

Heat oven to 425. Halve the squash and scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh inside. Place the squash cut side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast for 30-45 minutes, until the squash is fork tender. 

Using a kitchen towel or oven mitt to protect your hands, scoop out the cooked flesh from the inside of the squash and set aside.

Measure out the cream or half-and-half. Let sit at room temperature while you prepare the rest of the soup.

In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil over a medium-low flame and then cook the onion until beginning to brown, about 5-6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant. 

Add the butter and let melt and bubble slightly. 

Add the spices, stir well, and cook for 1 minute until fragrant. 

Add the squash and stir well to combine. Add the stock, stir well again, increase the flame to high, and let the liquid come to a boil.

Turn down the flame to low and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Puree the soup. 

Add the puree back to the original pot. Test the milk to see if any chill remains. If it feels cool to cold, microwave it for 30 seconds at a time until it feels room temperature or warmer. Add to the soup and stir.  

Test for seasoning and adjust as necessary. If desired, add 2 Tbsp of sugar (brown or white) and stir to combine.

Meatless Monday: Pumpkin mac and cheese

This autumnal pasta is creamy and rich thanks to the roasted squash, a little unctuous thanks to the cooked onions, and gloriously herby thanks to the fresh sage.

Take me to the recipe!

This mac and cheese is warming, cheesy, and chock full of veggies. It also works as dinner or lunch (or both!). I’ve made this with some sausage on the side for an even heartier meal, but it’s very filling on its own.

A couple of notes:
- I use half roasted squash and half pumpkin (butternut or acorn squash is my favorite, but you could use kobocha or delicata) because I don’t always love straight pumpkin pasta sauces. There is something heavy and somehow both flavorless and overwhelming about a sauce made with just pumpkin.
- The most time consuming part of this recipe is cooking the onions. A longer, slower cook yields much better flavor that significantly improves the final dish. I recommend taking the time.
- This recipe makes twice as much sauce as you need for a pound of pasta. You can either freeze half, or make two boxes of pasta for a large family. We’ve found that using 1 box of pasta and freezing half of the sauce yields one dinner for the four of us and some leftovers for lunch the next day.

Pumpkin mac and cheese

Time: 45 minutes, mostly active
Yield: 4 adult-sized dinner servings, 6 kid-sized dinner servings, or more if you’re serving this for lunch

2 Tbsp olive oil, butter, ghee, or your fat of choice
1 large onion, sliced thinly
2 large cloves garlic, diced
10 large sage leaves, minced
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup squash, roasted
½ tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup milk, or more, to create desired consistency
½ cup gruyere, shredded
½ cup cheddar cheese, shredded
¼ cup grated parmesan
1 lb pasta
1/2 cup reserved pasta water

Preheat the oven to 425. Cut your squash in half lengthwise and place cut side down on a parchment-covered baking sheet. Bake until fork tender, about 20-30 minutes.  

Bring a large stock pot of salted water to a boil. Cook your pasta according to package directions (towards the end of cooking your onions). Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water.

Heat a large sauté pan with the cooking oil over medium heat. Turn the heat down slightly and add the thinly sliced onions. Cook, stirring often, until caramelized, about 25- 30 minutes.

Add the garlic and sage to the pan with the onions and cook until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

In a blender or food processor, combine the cooked onions, garlic, sage, squash, pumpkin, salt, and cheese. Blend on high. Slowly add the milk until you’ve reached your desired consistency.* Scrape down the sides as needed.

Pour about 1/2 of the sauce into a large container for another time.

Drain your pasta, but reserve ½ cup of the pasta water. Put the pasta back into the pasta pot, top with ½ of the sauce, and thin out as needed with the reserved pasta water. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.

*The amount of milk you’ll need depends largely on your squash. Some squash have more water in them, so you’ll need less milk. Start with ¼ cup and add more as needed.

Delicata squash boats!

This dish has it all: vegetables! sausage! bread cubes! eggs! cheese! It’s a complete meal all by itself and feels right eaten with a runny egg for breakfast, a salad for lunch, or some rotisserie chicken for dinner.

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Delicata is the sort-of-lazy man's squash. It's not totally without prep as you have to cut it in half and clean out the seeds in the middle. But there's no peeling, because the peel is edible, which erases the most aggravating thing about squash for me.

While, obviously, the cheese, milk, and bread play a big role, the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. The bread and nutty cheese are a nice salty, crunchy counterpoint to the sweet, soft squash while the eggs and milk add richness and the kale adds a little bitter green. 

Delicata squash boats

Time: Between 30 and 45 minutes, mostly active
Yield: 4 dinner-sized servings for adults

2 large delicata squash, washed, ends trimmed, and cut in half with seeds scooped out
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk or cream
¼ cup grated parmesan
4 large sage leaves, minced (or ½ tsp of dried sage)
4 oz stale bread, cut into small cubes
1 cup finely chopped kale
4 oz cooked sausage (or 6-8 oz of raw ground pork with a pinch each of garlic powder, onion powder, dried sage, paprika, salt, and couple of fennel seeds)
3-4 oz shredded gruyere

Preheat the oven to 400. While the oven is heating, clean the squash by cutting each log in half, scooping out the seeds and pulp in the center, and placing cut-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Roast the squash for 15 minutes, or until a fork can just pierce the outside of the squash (the squash will continue to cook, so don’t look for full fork tenderness). 

While the oven heats and the squash roasts, combine the eggs and milk in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the bread cubes and stir to dampen all of the bread. Add the rest of the ingredients* and stir until combined and none of the bread cubes remain dry. Set aside.

*If not using precooked sausage, cook the the ground pork and spices now. Heat a glug of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and add the ground pork. Sprinkle on the pinches of each listed spice and mash around with a spatula. Cook until the sausage is browned and no pink remains, about 8 minutes.

Remove the squash from the oven and carefully flip over with tongs or a spatula being mindful of the steam. Scoop equal amounts of filling into the centers** and push down lightly. Top generously with grated gruyere and place back in the oven for 10 minutes or until the cheese is brown and melted.

**Extra filling can be cooked in a ramekin or other oven-safe dish topped with gruyere along side the squash boats.