#soupnight

For a cozy night in, this Cauliflower Squash Bisque is the perfect soup. It's creamy and warm. It's gluten-free, vegan, and tastes great thanks to the butternut squash, cauliflower, and warming spices.

Ingredients: 1 small head of cauliflower, chopped. 1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped. 1 onion, chopped. 2 cloves of garlic, minced. 4 cups vegetable broth. 1 can 14 oz coconut milk. 1 tsp curry powder. 1/2 tsp turmeric. Salt and pepper, to taste. Optional toppings: coconut yogurt, pumpkin seeds, chopped fresh herbs.

Instructions: In a large pot, saut the onion and garlic until softened. Add the cauliflower, butternut squash, vegetable broth, coconut milk, curry powder, turmeric, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Use an immersion blender to blend the soup until smooth. Alternatively, carefully transfer the soup to a blender and blend in batches. Adjust seasoning if needed. Serve hot, topped with coconut yogurt, pumpkin seeds, and chopped fresh herbs, if desired.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

It’s so much more than just a big bowl of vegetables!

Salt,  Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat is a charmingly illustrated and wholly cheerful comprehensive guide to gaining confidence in the kitchen. This is less of a cookbook and more of a book about cooking. If you’re looking for a bunch of innovative new recipes, this might not be what you want in your cookbook library, but if you want a straightforward approach to why food tastes good and learn how to make (and modify) some real workhorse recipes, pick up a copy. Nosrat covers everything from how to properly soak and cook a basic pot of beans, to a perfect roast chicken, to making mayonnaise from scratch and she does so in a way that makes you feel as if she’s standing beside you in the kitchen providing constant encouragement. This book hasn’t drastically changed the way I cook so much as it reinforced my own confidence that this is how I cook to begin with . . . so I must be doing something right! I’ll admit, after my initial scan, this sat on my bookcase for over a year before I made anything from it, but I’m very glad to have started with her Tuscan Bean and Kale Soup.

SKILL RATING: Easy-Peasy

The only real factor to consider in this case is time. You need to soak your beans and cook up a batch before putting together the soup. She does say that you can “feel free to use canned beans in a pinch” but I opted for the dried beans. There is a little bit of chopping and peeling involved, but for the most part it’s throwing vegetables into a pot and letting them simmer.

TASTE RATING: 5/5

No real surprise here . . . sometimes simple recipes are the best. Like most soup and stew recipes, this gets better the next day when the flavors have some time to meld. I found this to be much more flavorful and filling than I would have thought by just looking at the recipe, and it’s very easy to adapt to your liking. I add some extra garlic and a good amount of red pepper flakes for extra heat and it’s been fun to experiment with different bean varieties. I’ve done the recipe with and without the option of chopped bacon and it was fantastic both ways. Whatever you do . . . serve it with some nice crusty bread since you’ll want to sop up every drop!