Soup and such
It feels like my first recipe to post should be something fantastic. A dish worthy of attention. A gastronomic feast fit for royalty. Or, you know, soup.
This is not just any soup though. It's probably the one soup that is enjoyed, 100% of the time, by all who participate in its splendor.
The beautiful thing about this soup is that it has both a cooked and raw variation, both of which are marvelous in their own right.
I'm often asked what type of food we eat, vegetarian, vegan, raw, etc. I'm not entirely sure where we fit into this diet dichotomy. I usually tell people we're raw carnivores...and then I start nibbling on their finger. That usually ends the conversation pretty quick. Honestly though, I find the need to define ourselves by diet or deity (yeah, I went there) a wee bit trivial. For what it's worth though, we're predominantly an organic, plant-based, whole foods crew, choosing seasonal and local as much as possible. We have eggs (local, organic, cruelty-free, of course ;) on Sundays and I put cream in my coffee. In the summer, we consume more raw foods and then transition into more cooked/warming food as the West Coast weather turns cooler and damp..damper...more damp.
So, without further adieu, here's some soup!
As I mentioned, I do both a raw and cooked version of this 'classic'. I'll include the recipes for both, but will repost the raw one, with more detail, a little later.
I'll also get you some better pics, I promise :)
Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup (Cooked)
3-4 cups Butternut Squash, peeled and seeded, roughly chopped
1 cup Carrot, scrubbed and roughly chopped
1/3 cup Yellow onion or shallots, gently chopped
2 Tbs Coconut oil, melted
1 tsp Turmeric*
1/2 tsp Black pepper
1 cup Apple, chopped
1/2 cup Cashews (soaked, if not using high-speed blender) or 1/4 cup hemp hearts
2 tsp Fresh ginger, chopped (adjust to taste. I usually add at least 1 tbsp)
4 cups Water, divided
1 tsp Salt (Himalayan or Sea)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Dump squash, carrot, onion, and spices into a oven-friendly dish and bake until soft and lightly carmelized, 30 minutes or so. Meanwhile, blend together apple, cashews and 2 cups of water.
When the oven goodies are soft and brown, add to blender (if using a submersion blender, add all contents to a pot and blend). Blend, adding water until desired consistency is achieved. Add salt and pepper to taste. Boom! Soup!
For the raw version, simply blend together all of the ingredients (you'll need a high-speed blender for this one) without cooking anything first (duh). I've never been a fan of raw carrot soups as the texture can be a little...grainy...so you may want to omit it. Also, it's best to cut the onion down to 1/4 cup, and substitute with shallot or sweet onion. Without the carmelization from baking, you may also want to add a bit of agave or honey to sweeten things up :)
*A note about turmeric.
Curcumin, the superstar compound found in turmeric, has been getting a lot of recognition of late due to it's anti-nflammatory and pain-killing effects. Curcumin is also very helpful for diabetics as it has been shown to stimulate beta cell regeneration and preserve pancreatic islet cell survival. Unfortunately, turmeric/curcumin is not readily bioavailable as it is quickly filtered out by the liver. The good news? A small amount of black pepper will increase curcumin's bioavailability by 2000%! The pungent alkaloid in black pepper, called piperine, slows liver metabolism, thereby buying more time for curcumin's absorption into the blood stream. Quite the dynamic duo, yeah?
If you want more information on turmeric, check out turmericforhealth.com
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