Kabocha Soup

Ok. Kabocha soup is easy. You can use any other pumpkin type vege. Acorn squash may be good too since it is sweet.

You Will Need:
1/2 a Kabocha or 1 whole acorn squash
1 medium onion
2 stalks of celery
2 medium carrots.

You will also need a bit of oil, a can of evaporated milk or regular milk, water, nutmeg, sugar or brown sugar, tarragon, a bit of butter, and bouillon.

Chop the kabocha into manageable pieces; about 1/2 an inch to a 1/4 inch thick or so. This will be labor intensive because pumpkins are hard. Chop up the onions, celery, and the carrots too. They don't have to be minced to a pulp.

Heat up 2 skillets with a bit of oil (and butter if you like). In 1 skillet sauté the onions; once they are translucent and start to brown add the carrots and celery. Lightly salt and pepper. Let these go for about 10 mins or so on a medium-low heat. You don't want these to go black.
In another skillet sauté the kabocha pieces. You may have to cook these in batches depending on size of your skillet. Make sure you cook both sides. They may start to turn a golden brown. You know the kabocha is cooked when you can bite into it and it is a fluffy texture. Not hard or grainy.

Put everything you just sautéed in a pot. If there are bits stuck to the skillet, deglaze with water and put that in the pot too. Fill the rest of the pot with enough water just to cover all of the veges. Add some sort of bouillon. I used a vege bouillon cube last time. Beef or chicken bouillon will add another level of depth to the flavour. Add a bay leaf. Simmer over for about 45 mins or so. You don't want to make the “soup” very salty at this point because you can always adjust saltiness at the end. Since everything is cooked already, this step just combines all the flavors together and softens the vegetables even further.

Now all the ingredients are cooked and soft. You can throw everything into a blender* (probably in batches), then strain it through a wire mesh sieve. Straining will get rid of the celery fibers and left over kabocha peel peices. (*If you like a chunky soup, you may consider mashing it up with a potato masher instead of blender-ing and straining.) Viola, now you have a beautiful kabocha + vege puree.

At this point, you can divide and freeze what you're not going to use.

For the soup, over a low heat, thin the puree with milk (or evaporated milk for a richer flavor) until it is a consistency that you like. Add a dash of nutmeg to taste, a pinch or two of dried tarragon, and a touch of brown sugar. If you’re making enough for about 2-3 people, you would use about 1 1/2 c of puree, then about a teaspoon of sugar. Stir in a drop of butter for richness.

It is done! Make sure you taste everything through the whole process and adjust ingredients to match your own preference.

Serving suggestions: a dollop of sour cream, serve with parmesan cheese toast.

Happy cooking.