Roasted Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

I love soup when the weather turns cooler and I truly believe I could eat it every day.

Here is a super simple recipe I put together tonight.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup
(Dairy Free, Gluten Free)

1 medium to large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
olive oil
1 can coconut milk
2 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Salt
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  On a parchment lined cookie sheet add squash and sweet potato.  Drizzle with olive oil.   Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes, turn the chunks to help them to cook evenly.  Continue to bake for an additional 15 minutes or until tender and slightly brown.  In a blender add coconut milk, broth, ginger, cinnamon and a little salt.  Blend until smooth.  Depending on the size of your squash and potato you may have to blend this in two batches.  Place blended soup into a large pan and heat over medium heat.  Add more salt as necessary to taste.

I added some smoked salmon in the bowl with the soup to add some protein.

Smoked Salmon Pasta

Back in March I recreated a dish that I liked when we were in Alaska, Smoked Salmon with Cream Sauce and Pasta.  I am trying something different tonight and here is what I did, it is more like a kicked up grown up version of mac and cheese.

6 ounce package of smoked salmon, drained of any juices and chopped with a fork until you no longer have huge chunks of salmon (you want to be able to see that you have salmon in the pasta)

1/2 of a 16 ounce bag of pasta (I used a Fusilli pasta), cooked
1 tomato de-seeded and diced
1 can artichoke hearts, drained
about a 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
about a 1/4 cup Romano Cheese, grated
Bechamel Sauce (recipe below)



Bechamel Sauce
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups hot milk
salt and freshly ground pepper
Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan, blend in flour with a wooden spoon, and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until butter and flour foam together for 2 minutes without turning more than a buttery yellow color.  Remove from heat, and when bubbling stops, vigorously whisk in all the hot milk at once.  Place back on heat and bring to a boil, whisking until thick.  Simmer, stirring for 2 minutes.  Season to taste.

Once the Bechamel Sauce is done, add a little bit of the parmesan and romano cheese. Stir until slightly melted.  Stir in artichokes and smoked salmon, add tomato.  Add sauce mixture to the pasta and toss until pasta is coated.  To serve top pasta with a little bit of  grated parmesan and romano cheese.

Sweet Potato Soup with Smoked Salmon

Today there was a little taste of fall in the air.  This summer has been so hot and humid.   It is starting to cool off some and I really hope that it continues.  I am ready for cooler weather.  The fall and cooler weather makes me immediately think of soup, don't ask me why I don't know.  I thought a sweet potato soup would be great.  I dug through some recipes and found this one, it is from the Food Network, the recipe is called Nutty Sweet Potato Soup.  The only difference is that I added smoked salmon to the soup bowls.

Sweet Potato Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, diced (about 2 cups_

1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced (about 1 cup)

2 medium carrots, diced (about 1 cup)

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 clove garlic, minced (about 1 teaspoon)

1 teaspoon peeled and grated fresh ginger

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed (about 2 cups)

6 cups homemade chicken broth 

1 (14.5) ounce can of diced tomatoes, with juice

2/3 cup creamy natural peanut butter

2 teaspoons of honey

• 1/2 cup chopped scallion greens (about 3 scallions)
• Salt to Taste
• Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.  Add the onions, bell pepper and carrots and cook, stirring until the vegetables soften, about 5 minutes.  Add cayenne, black pepper, garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute more.  Stir in the sweet potato, broth, and tomatoes and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a medium low and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.  
• Puree the soup in the pot using an immersion blender or in a regular blender in 2 batches and return to the soup pot.  Add the peanut butter and honey and stir, over low heat, until the peanut butter melts.  Serve warm, garnished with the scallions.   Add salt to taste ( I use homemade chicken broth that doesn't contain any salt).

**Note:  I use a Vitamix blender which has a way of blending spices that really bring out their natural flavors.  Because of this I think I would add slightly less cayenne pepper.  I would also add the peanut butter and honey while some of the soup was in the blender.  The peanut butter, although it melted, didn't really become smooth.  I added smoked salmon from seabear (this is where we buy our seafood) to the bowls before adding the soup.  The salmon added a nice flavor and of course added some great protein. 

Smoked Salmon with Cream Sauce and Pasta

Well as I promised from my Alaska post that I would be getting ideas from the foods I ate.  Tonight was no exception.  On our trip we went to a place north west of Fairbanks called Chena Hot Springs.  On their menu was a recipe very similar to what I made tonight.

Here is what you will need:
6 ounce package of smoked salmon, drained of any juices and chopped with a fork until you no longer have huge chunks of salmon (you want to be able to see that you have salmon in the pasta)
1/2 of a 16 ounce bag of pasta (I used a Fusilli pasta), cooked
1 red pepper, sliced thin and cooked but slightly crispy, drain of any water and pat dry
Parmesan Cheese, grated
Smoked Gouda, sliced into thin strips
Bechamel Sauce (recipe below)

Bechamel Sauce
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups hot milk
salt and freshly ground pepper
Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan, blend in flour with a wooden spoon, and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until butter and flour foam together for 2 minutes without turning more than a buttery yellow color.  Remove from heat, and when bubbling stops, vigorously whisk in all the hot milk at once.  Place back on heat and bring to a boil, whisking until thick.  Simmer, stirring for 2 minutes.  Season to taste.

Once the Bechamel Sauce is done, add a little bit of the sliced smoked gouda and some parmesan cheese. Stir until slightly melted.  Stir in smoked salmon.  Add sauce mixture to the pasta and toss until pasta is coated.  Stir in red peppers.   To serve top pasta with slices of smoked gouda and grated parmesan.

Suggestion:  When you go to make this cook your pasta first, drain, place in a bowl and toss with some olive oil (this will prevent the pasta from sticking together).  Slice and cook the peppers.  Have salmon and cheese ready to go.  It will not take very long at all to make the Bechamel Sauce.

The meal was served with romaine lettuce and Caesar dressing.
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon coarse black pepper
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 to 2 teaspoons sugar
2 pressed garlic cloves
1/4 cup Romano or Parmesan cheese
1 cup vegetable oil or extra virgin olive oil
Mix together. 
Add just enough dressing to coat romaine lettuce but not too much.  Sprinkle each salad with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and fresh ground pepper.

Spicy Sweet Potato Soup with Smoked Salmon

I found this recipe in the Yukon - North of Ordinary magazine that I subscribe to, it was in the winter 2011 issue.  I love this magazine as it is always filled with wonderful articles and great recipes (even though this is the first one I have ever actually made).

I have to tell you something funny that happened in the kitchen as I was preparing to make this recipe.  As you read through this recipe you will see that it calls for chipotle peppers in adobe sauce.  I keep the peppers in stock in my kitchen because so many recipes actually call for it.  So I pulled a can from my pantry, I noticed that the top of the can had a little sauce or yuck from what is inside the can.  My first thought was "well maybe in the store one of the cans leaked and ended up on this can".  I knew better than that...so I thought the seal on this can isn't that good and the sauce leaked out so I decided that it was a good idea to push on the seal on the top of the can to test, yes I said test, the strength of the can by applying pressure to the seal.  Well you guessed it, the seal was not sealed, or I have the strength of a super body builder, and as I pushed on the can the contents, which of course is under pressure decided to let loose if you will all over myself and my husband who happened to be standing close.  I had chipotle pepper sauce all over me, thankfully I wear an apron in the kitchen so the majority of the sauce was on it.  I think the part that un-nerves me is that some of that sauce went into my mouth.  Now I realize at this point that the can is no good.  The can went into the garbage.  Thankfully I had another can available for this dish.

Here is the recipe:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery (I did not actually use celery in my recipe because I am allergic)
1 cup chopped carrot
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 pounds peeled, chopped sweet potato
1/2 of a chipotle pepper in adobe sauce
6 cups chicken broth (I use homemade broth)
2 ounces of smoked salmon

Garnish:
Sour Cream
Roasted peppers, chopped

Melt oil and butter in a 3 quart saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion, celery, carrot and garlic; reduce heat to medium low and saute until onion is translucent.  Add the sweet potato,  Stir well so that every piece is coated in oil and butter, and then add the broth and the chipotle pepper.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for 25-30 minutes or until sweet potato is completely soft.  Blend soup in a food processor, immersion blender or press through a strainer.  I used my vitamix blender.  Return soup to the pot and add salt to taste.  Keep warm.  Dice the salmon into 1/2 inch pieces.  When you're ready to serve, pour soup into bowls and pile a small mound of smoked salmon in the center of each bowl.  Add sour cream and peppers.