Double Double Toil and Trouble

When I posted the recipe for cream of almond soup, Laura mentioned that making soup makes her feel like a witch throwing things into a cauldron. Me too! Especially the part of making soup that requires moonlight and holding a live frog over the pot so you get just the right amount of frog tears.

And I thought witches would be a good tie-in here because this soup is the perfect way to use up some of your leftover Halloween goodies. I don't mean the "raisinettes" that have been sitting in your kid's trick or treat bag for months because no one eats raisenettes and what kind of a nutjob hands those out? I'm talking about all those decorative gourds you had strewn about your tables, front doorsteps, sidewalks......Just because they're pretty, doesn't mean they're not good eats. Especially if you get the weird looking ones like I did - white pumpkins, blue pumpkins, green pumpkins - Oh my!

Squash soups are some of my favorite kinds of soups because of their versatility and creaminess. They can be sweet, they can be spicy, and they can be very very boring if you're not careful. The thing I love about this recipe is the grated onion. I think it really helps to add to the flavor of the soup and keeps it from being boring. I'm a fan of doing my grating right over the pot, so you get some onion juice as well. This means my measurement isn't too exact, but really you're not going to go crying over some onions, are you? There's no raw meat in here - you can taste as you go! The only thing I don't like is the same problem I had with the AVM pumpkin soup - squash can be very stringy. So even though this recipe doesn't call for it, I would start by running the mashed squash, milk, onion, and ginger through a food processor or blender before beginning. This will make it nice, thick, creamy, and not at all stringy.

Winter Squash Soup (from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

1 cup mashed cooked winter squash

1 qt milk

2 Tbsp grated onion

1/2 tsp powdered ginger

2 Tbsp butter

3 Tbsp flour

salt

1. Mix the squash, milk, onion, and ginger in a pot and cook over moderate heat about 10 minutes.
2. Melt the butter in a small pan, stir in the flour and cook several minutes until smooth and thick.
3. Pour a little of the soup into the butter-flour mixture, stirring until blended, then slowly pour into the soup. Add salt to taste.
4. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until very hot.