Carrot, Squash and Curry Soup

I went to Bunko a few months ago at my friend Ruth's home. She always does an amazing job with her decorations and food. She tries new recipes each time. I am always so busy I usually do a standard recipe. She had soup and sandwiches for her meal. I tried this soup and loved it. She had some sandwiches which I also loved and laughed later because after I tried them I said, "These would be great for a wedding."

The next morning I got a call from my daughters boyfriend asking me if he could ask for her hand in marriage. My friends thought I made the comment because I knew before. Well, thanks to Ruth, we are doing a soup and sandwich bar at the wedding. Similar to "Zupas" restaurant. I have been experimenting with different things trying to find the one's we like the best.

Someone gave me a HUGE squash. I wish I had a photo of it. I could barely carry it. It was as long as my arm and must have weighed 25-30 lbs. I also got a case of carrots from the food bank when they got a pallet. They had to be used right away so I figured now would be the time to make the soup. Here is the recipe:

Carrot and Squash Curry Soup

Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
5 cloves Garlic, Minced
1 whole Large Onion, Diced
3 whole Carrots, Washed And Sliced Thin
4 whole Yellow Squash (sliced)
Salt To Taste
1 Tablespoon Curry Powder (more To Taste!)
1/2 cup Dry White Wine (optional)
48 ounces, fluid Chicken Broth
Heavy Cream (optional)
Preparation Instructions
Heat olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add garlic and onions and stir to coat. Add carrots and cook for 3 minutes, or until they start to get soft. Sprinkle in a little salt.
Add squash. Stir and cook for a few minutes, until squash is soft and tender. After a few minutes, add salt to taste and the curry powder.
Pour in wine if using. Let evaporate for about 30 seconds, then pour in chicken broth. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover pot, and cook for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, taste and adjust seasonings. Turn off heat.
Puree soup using an immersion blender, or in batches in a regular blender. Return to soup pot and bring to a simmer. Serve hot. If you're feeling naughty, drizzle heavy cream over the top.

Ok, so I didn't use the yellow squash and since I had a ton of carrots and a huge squash, I broke it down into three batches. On the first batch, I cut the huge banana type squash, cleaned it and used a knife to take off the skin. I then cut it into tiny pieces and put it in a pressure cooker with the onions and olive oil. I didn't add any water and put the lid on it but didn't use any pressure just heat. I had the cooker filled to the top and when it was done, it was half full with lots of juice and I used the juice and added bullion cubes instead of using the pre-made chicken broth. The other method I tried was cutting the squash up and putting it in the oven and baking it for a few hours. I had to do it this way due to how much squash I had. I filled the huge pressure cooker, my roasting pan and added a casserole dish in the oven as well. That was one big squash.

My favorite way to cook it was the pressure cooker for a few reasons. One, they were peeled already and I didn't have to do any work after it was cooked. The baked one's got tough and brown on the edges making it like a skin so I had to take that off. The pressure cooker one's cooked faster and used less heat. I think if I did it again, I would cut it into strips, peel it and throw it into a slicing machine to save time.

After cutting and cooking the carrots, I just added the squash that was already pressure cooked or baked. I used the blender to puree it but I will caution about not doing too much at once. I did and it was hot still and exploded out and scalded me some. I learned quickly to only fill it half full when blending.

I followed the recipe for the most part after that but really you need to season to taste because all curry isn't the same. I have a hot one and a mild one that I use. I also threw in some dehydrated chives and used some pepper and onion salt on one batch.

I poured it into gallon freezer bags and double bagged them so I could freeze them for the wedding. I think I would just do one batch at a time if I could help it but the squash was so big and I needed to use up the carrots. This soup ended up costing me a few dollars. The bullion and the spices were the only cost along with some onions. The bags cost me more than the soup! I made 7 gallon bags. Princess number one will be visiting this weekend so I left some out of the freezer for her to try.