Butternut Squash Soup
The thing about food blogging that I really didn't like was the whole writing down my recipes and having to measure amounts of ingredients thing. I am not a measurer. If I had to classify myself, I would say I'm an anti-measurer against all forms of measurement and staunchly in favor of recipes including the words "pinch," "dash," and "handful."
The reason I hate measurements so much is because I think they are largely unneccessary. For real. Every time a make a recipe from a cookbook and I follow the directions exactly, at the end I find myself wishing that I had followed my gut and added more of one ingredient and less of another. I will concede, a hard-line recipe can be useful if you are making something complicated or trying something intimidating for the first time. Obviously, if you are baking there is not a ton of leeway there (therein lies the reason I'm not partial to baking). When it comes to cooking, I think people need to learn to be less worried about the measurements and more worried about what your tastes are. If you like cilantro, and an ass-ton of cilantro. If you don't like spice, only add two cranks of black pepper. Do you like your cookies extra crispy? Well then leave em' in the oven until you can break them over your knee (yummmmmmm).
So I'm going on measurement strike until further notice. If the cry for "real recipes" gets too loud and unanimous, well then I suppose I'll add the mother f**king measurements back in. But until then, just try to be a little adventurous and tune in to your taste buds. OKAY?!
BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP
Ingredients
1 butternut squash
onion
olive oil
salt and pepper
A lot of vegetable stock
chickpeas
ground cumin
ground coriander
lemon juice
Garnish:
cilantro
sliced avocado
more chickpeas
Directions:
Cube butternut squash into even pieces. Spread on to baking sheet with diced onion and coat with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake at 400 F until squash is mushy and onion is roasted through and medium brown (30 min.)
Add squash, onion, stock, chickpeas, cumin, and coriander to large pot and heat through. Use a fork or potato masher to mash up about half of the butternut squash. The soup should be thick but still have large chunks of squash.
While soup is heating, coat more chickpeas in olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast in the oven 15-20 minutes or until slightly crispy.
When soup is heated through, add a squeeze of lemon juice and serve. Garnish with roasted chickpeas, sliced avocado, and cilantro.
