cook: kabocha squash soup

So remember this pic from the farmers market LAST weekend? 

But before Friday night dinner, happy hour of wings and wine.

I cooked the gai lang or Chinese broccoli for Cecilia's birthday dinner to accompany the Vietnamese American garlic butter noodles and the lobster tail I sautéed in garlic, butter and Sriracha and then added already cooked crab to soak up that flavored butter.

Sunday was rainy, and Sadie didn't want to get up. And so no swimming, just soup making. I got to empty my cupboard of a can of coconut milk and a bottle of red curry sauce to flavor the base. And the base was made from broths I made from shrimp shells and vegetable scraps. Gawd, this soup sounds kind of gross so far, but moving on...and of course, the kabocha squash I bought at the farmers market.

There was no way I was going to cut a thick raw gourd, and so I stabbed the kabocha squash all around and then microwaved it for 4 minutes.

 

I cut the squash in half, scooped out the seeds, and then sliced it. I thought, oh this would be so good if these slices were battered and fried as tempura.

But no, back to soup. After cutting the squash into chunks, I chopped half an onion, half a head of garlic, and grated ginger. And admired the orchid in bloom.

  

So I don't remember where I learned this, but don't pour oil into the cast iron until hot and you can tell when your pan is heated through and hot enough when you can no longer be able to touch the rim. I've teflon hands and so went ahead and poured oil into the bottom of the pan to sauté the aromatics.

 

And then I added the kabocha squash and broths and let it all simmer.

 

I boiled kabocha squash and aromatics and Thai curry sauce and coconut milk until it all emulsified. I was too lazy to even chop cilantro but did add crab atop the soup as well as a couple of Thai chilies and kaffir lime leaves.

 

And so the plan is to cook up some rice noodles, stir in crab and seafood medley, add chopped cilantro and squeeze lime juice over this kabocha curry for meals this week. And now I'm craving a Filipino breakfast.