Autumn Harvest Soup I Made It Ii

Autumn Harvest Soup

Cosmicmother 4 years ago
~Made for the October 2020's "Cucurbit/Squash" Recipe Challenge~

Autumn Harvest Soup by Otterpond

Wow, the aroma coming from this soup is intoxicating! From the start of roasting the vegetables, to simmering in the crockpot it will have your senses dancing!
I loved the combo of vegetables; butternut squash, potatoes, carrots, roasted onion and garlic. Then you have the applesauce, vegetable stock and all those spices!
I followed the ingredients exactly except I halved the dried ginger. Since switching my usual dried ginger to an organic brand I find it extremely spicy and numbing so I have learned to cut it down. I still found the soup slightly numbing with ginger, but then you have the aromatic curry powder that the carrots and onions roast in, the earthiness of the tumeric, spiciness of the chili powder and the sweet-peppery nutmeg. The flavour combo is out of this world. However, I did find it slightly overpowering while eating it. Perhaps the soup could use some more liquid to tone it down, or just cut the spices down a bit and adjust at the end if needed.
I did change the method slightly. After roasting the vegetables I put everything in the crockpot with the liquid before pureeing. Rather than pureeing all the vegetables first, then simmering for 4 hours. I left the vegetables whole, (scooping out the squash, potatoes and garlic first which melted into the soup) then pureed the soup after it simmered 4 hours with an immersion blender. I did this because some of the carrot chunks were rather big and could use a little more cooking. I could see keeping the soup chunky and serving it over rice as a fantastic curry! Perhaps even roast some cauliflower along side too.
For the Greek yogurt at the end, I thinned it out with a 1/4 cup of half&half cream as it's rather thick and the soup is already quite thick. I also used thinned-out yogurt as a topping for the soup, which helped tone down the spice some more. With all the spices in here, you really could serve it over rice as a sauce, or add some cream or milk to tone it down. But it probably depends on the level of flavour and heat your spices have, so I recommend starting with half the spices and adjust it to taste near the end of cooking.
Served with homemade foccacia bread, but I think a plain crusty loaf or soda crackers would be better with it. :)
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LindaLMT 4 years ago said:

I love your picture Shona! Love the perfect contrasting swirl. I never would have thought to use applesauce in a soup recipe. Good helpful notes.

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chuckieb 4 years ago said:

That soup looks totally delicious Shona....restaurant worthy. I bet coconut milk might also be a nice addition as opposed to yogurt.

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mommyluvs2cook 4 years ago said:

Wow, this looks amazing!! Love the swirl, so smart thinning out the yogurt with half and half. Bookmarking and planning to make this soon :)

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Cosmicmother 4 years ago said:

Thanks Ladies! :)

Great minds Janet! I was thinking the same thing before adding the yogurt. The smell of spices called out for a can of coconut milk that if I had some at home I so would of used it! Definitely a fantastic swap for the yogurt, and served with naan bread---yum!

We had leftovers over rice for lunch yesterday, it helped balance the amount of spices for sure. But as a soup I think it could use a couple cups of water or stock. Or like said above, use a can of coconut milk. Or just cut the spices in half. :)

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eastcoaster 4 years ago said:

That soup looks delicious Shona, and the photo is nice and bright, just lovely.

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Cosmicmother 4 years ago said:

Thanks Manellal :)

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