Autumn Harvest Butternut Squash Soup

Call it what you like... Autumn, Fall, that time of the year when the leaves get crunchy enough to stop on (or don't  depending on where you live), pumpkin spice latte season...no matter WHAT you call this season... it's the perfect time for soup. And not just any soup...a soup that speaks to the season itself, to the harvest that it provides, and to the sweet and slightly spiced coolness that the air holds. 

This soup is relatively easy. It takes a bit of chopping and a tiny bit of sautéing, but the rest kinda cooks itself. Sorry I don't have many pictures; I decided after the fact that I was going to post it.

The soup itself is PLENTY creamy once blended, that I didn't feel the need to add any sort of cream. But if you decide you want some added richness, 1/4 of a cup canned coconut milk will pair perfectly with this soup. The great thing about this recipe is that a lot of it depends on your own personal taste, especially when it comes to the spices, so taste lots and adjust as you see fit. I adapted the recipe from here. Please leave me some love and let me know what you think if you try the recipe!  

Ingredients:

•     4 pounds whole butternut squash (about 2 medium), halved lengthwise and seeds    removed (I used one very large butternut squash
•     4-5 medium carrots
•    1 Tbsp coconut oil
•   1 medium Granny Smith apple peeled (I used a golden crisp apple…)
•   1 small or ¾ a medium yellow onion
•  1 Tbsp dried marjoram
•   6 cups low-sodium vegetable, chicken, or beef broth
•  Salt to taste
•  Freshly ground black pepper to taste
•  ¼-1/2 tsp nutmeg (start small and add more as needed)
•  Dash of cayenne pepper
•  Dash of chili powder
•   Drizzle of olive oil
•   ½-1 tsp ground cinnamon (start small and add more to until happy with flavor)
•  1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds or dried cranberries for garnish (optional)
•   ¼ cup coconut milk (optional)

Directions

• Cut tops off of butternut squash, cut in half, take seeds out, drizzle with tiny bit of olive oil, season with salt, some chili powder, and freshly cracked black pepper. Roast in the oven at 375 F until fully tender.
• While squash is roasting, dice onions and apples, and slice carrots into disks. Heat a large nonstick pot and add 1 tbsp coconut oil. Add onions and apples, sauté until slightly soft and browning. Add carrots, sauté for another 4-5 min.
• Add all broth and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low once it boils, cover, and let simmer until carrots and apples are completely cooked and soft.
• When carrots and apples are soft add the fully cooked butternut squash (scooped out of it’s skin)
• Add nutmeg, cinnamon, marjoram, freshly cracked pepper, dash of cayenne, dash of chili powder.
• Puree entire mixture in batches in a blender.
• Taste and adjust spices and salt as necessary.
• Optional: Mix in coconut milk (or cream) to make richer. I found it perfect without it, and had some plain yogurt on the side.
• Optional: When serving, garnish with dried cranberries and roasted pumpkin seeds.

Mirza Ghassemi (Persian Eggplant Tomato "Dip")

Hey guys,

Long time no recipe-ing. Been a bit busy with my thesis proposal and data collection as of late. Please keep me in your thoughts as I go through what is going to be a CRAZY summer. More updates on that as they develop. In the meantime, I have still been cooking to release the stress build up. So as promised, you'll see an Iranian dish on here every so often. The dish I have in mind for today is native to the northern part of Iran and a staple in the Gilaki cuisine. As some of my readers know, my husband's family is originally from Rasht, a province in northern Iran. Gilaki cuisine is very different from what many people consider "Persian food". It consists of very little red meat, other than the occasional vavishka (originally a Russian dish made with ground beef, onions, and tomatoes), or kabob torsh (sour pomegranate kabob). Instead they use a lot of fish and eggs as sources of protein. Also, the use of garlic in Rashti or Gilaki cooking is NOT for the faint of heart. They use garlic like it's nobody's business. (As you will see here shortly).

Mirza Ghassemi (Persian Eggplant Tomato Dip)


Ingredients

• 1 medium bulb of garlic (not clove, but the ENTIRE bulb) 
• 4 medium eggplants 
• 6-7 large tomatoes
• 7 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp turmeric
• Salt and pepper to taste (make sure you're not under-seasoning)
• 3-4 Tbs olive oil

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 F. Stab each eggplant all over with a fork. Place eggplants (uncut and unpeeled) onto a foil covered baking sheet and bake until soft. Mine took about an hour to really get soft, but check periodically after about 30 minutes. To get really authentic with this you can grill the eggplant until soft. 
• While eggplant is baking, peel tomatoes by boiling in water for 3-4 minutes (until skin splits) and then placing tomatoes immediately into ice water. You should easily be able to peel of the skin with your fingers. Dice peeled tomatoes and put them into saucepan. 
• Add a little bit of salt to the tomatoes and cook them down on medium/high heat until about most of the liquid boils off (1/3 should still remain), then lower heat and cover.
• When eggplant is cooked, remove from oven and peel them and cut off the end. Chop eggplant finely (almost smashing it as you dice, it want it to almost be pasty).
• At this point peel, finely dice, and smash the garlic. 
• Heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil in a deep pan and add two-thirds of the prepared garlic to the pan. When lightly browned, add 1 1/2 tsp turmeric to the garlic and stir for a minute or two.
• Add eggplant and saute for 6-7 minutes. If there's any liquid coming from the eggplants at this point, let most of it simmer off. 
• Add cooked off tomatoes to the mixture and combine thoroughly.
• Turn heat to medium-low and allow any remaining liquid to simmer off.
• While the eggplant mixture is cooking, heat a Tbs of oil in a pan.
• crack eggs into a bowl and whisk, add some salt and pepper to the eggs (to taste)
• Add remaining garlic to the pan, saute until lightly browned and add a 1/2 tsp of turmeric--stir for a couple minutes
• Add whisked eggs to the pan and stir until you essentially have what looks like scrambled eggs (you want the pieces to be relatively smaller and not in huge chunks.) 
• Add cooked eggs to the eggplant mixture and combine for a uniform look.
• Taste and add salt and pepper accordingly
• Cook for 15-20 minutes longer so that flavors combine and then serve and enjoy!

Poke! :D 

It should resemble this :) 

Enjoy!

Now in Rasht, Mirza Ghassemi is usually served as an entree with white basmati/Persian rice, ashpal (white fish eggs), baghali (fresh fava beans), walnuts, and sliced Persian cucumber. We kept it simple with white rice, and salad shirazi (salad made with diced cucumbers, diced onions, diced tomatoes, lime juice, dried mint, and salt and pepper). Oh yeah... and my husband had this with pickled garlic as well. Luckily we had no where important to be the next day. A simpler way to eat it, and the way in which restaurants usually serve it in Tehran or the US is just with warm bread. This makes a perfect appetizer or entree. I imagine it would be a great spread on crackers or toasted french bread as well.