I love winter squash and pumpkin season. I never get bored with them. Always searching for new ways to cook them, but my fav comfort food is always pumpkin(squash) soup. Since I try to avoid any dairy, especially cream I always go for coconut milk.
My favourite squash to cook a soup with is hokkaido/red kuri squash- there is no need to take off the skin, you cook or bake it with the skin, which besides being convenient also gives the soup it’s amazing bright colour. This time I wanted a soup of gentle taste, almost sweet, so I added some shallots and apples to the mix. I still have some sage in the garden so I decided to make some fried sage chips to serve the soup with. Hope you like the recipe!
RECIPE – Hokkaido squash soup with sage chips and almond flakes
1 red kuri/hokkaido squash2 cooking apples, cored
3 shallots
clarified butter
200 ml coconut milk
100g almond flakes
3 cups vegetable stock
several sage leaves
sea salt, sugar
First skin and chop the shallots finely. Core the apples and cut into cubes. Then cut the squash into two and remove all the seeds and strings. Cut into small cubes- you will blend the soup, so no need to be precise. In a pot heat 2 T of clarified butter and add the chopped shallots. Stir for a few minutes until translucent, add squash and apple cubes, stock. Let cook for 20-25 minutes until all is soft and easy to blend. Blend with an immersed blender. Add 1/3 of a cup of coconut milk. Taste. See if it needs a lot of salt, maybe a teaspoon of sugar? Now roast some almond flakes on a dry hot pan. Stir all the time, they like to burn. Take of the heat when they become golden. In the same pan heat 4 T of clarified butter. Once it's hot put few leaves in, let bubble for a moment until they change a cooler and quickly take out of the pan and put on a paper towel to take excess oil off. Serve the soup with few dollops of coconut milk and almond flakes and sage chips on a platter to serve just moments before consuming.
