Most of you may not know this, but our very own Caleb Johnson is quite the chef. He is especially talented with using fresh herbs from the garden to create the best flavors in anything from beverages to decadent desserts and everything in between.
Today is our lucky day, he was generous enough to share with us one of his DELICIOUS winter soup recipes. This recipe is perfect for a frosty weekend at home or for entertaining guests through the holidays. And the best part is, its SUPER easy and a great way to utilize all those squash left over from this falls harvest!
This tasty winter squash recipe is best using strawberry crown or australian butter (or both) but feel free to substitute any similar winter squash to explore different flavors.
Ingredients
- 8-12 cups vegetable stock (depending on size of crock pot)
- 1 whole winter squash cubed (or 2 halves of two types of winter squash)
- 3-5 cloves of garlic
- 4 tbs or 3 fresh sprigs oregano
- 2 tbs or 1 fresh sprig rosemary
- 2-4 tbs salt to taste
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 tbs paprika
- 1 tbs cumin
- 8 tbs butter
- 4-6 red peppers
- 1 cup heavy cream or substitute silken tofu
- 1/2 to 1 full cup brown ale
Instructions
- Turn your crockpot on high for a cook time of 3-4 hours or on low for a cook time of 7-8 hours and add all 8-12 cups vegetable stock.
- Cube the squash into 2 inch pieces and add to stock along with garlic, oregano, rosemary, salt, paprika, cumin, and butter. Let stand in crockpot for 3-4 hours (or 7-8 depending on cook temp).
- After the mixture has cooked down, blend with an emulsion blender in the crockpot to puree. **If you don’t have an emulsion blender you can use a food processor or blender.
- While the mixture is cooking roast red peppers in the oven on broil covered with vegetable oil until they’re tender and the skin can easily peel off. Let cool and remove the skin. Puree the peppers and add into the crockpot mixture. You can also add 1 or 2 jalapeños if you’d like a little extra kick.
- After all ingredients have been pureed add the brown sugar, brown ale, and any additional spices to taste.
- Lastly add in the heavy cream or silken tofu (silken tofu will need to be pureed in) to give the creamy texture to the soup. If your crockpot is on high turn it down to low, and leave soup to stand with all ingredients for an additional 1-3 hours as the flavors continue to blend.
- Garnish as desired with herbs or cheese and sliced baguette style bread. Serve hot and enjoy!
I hope you and yours all enjoy this wonderful fall recipe, from all of us at Johnson Brothers we hope this holiday season brings the warmth and love of close family, good food, and great memories!