Before I launch into today’s recipe, I’d like to share a little esoteric trivia with you. Esoteric in a world-wide sense, as our enlightened inner circle contains a bazillion people. But in order to understand the following, you must have a linguistic understanding of what www means and that’s a big outer-inner (out-there) circle.

Stick with me, there’s some logic to this intro, however convoluted it might be.

Today has great significance in the posting of this recipe. On November 12th, 1990, English physicist Tim Berners-Lee and Belgian computer scientist Robert Cailliau drafted a proposal entitled “WorldWideWeb: Proposal for a HyperText Project.” That’s what guys who work at CERN, the world’s largest particle physics lab, do in their spare time.

You know, when they’re not messing around with particle accelerators or smashing atoms.

Little did they know that their project and the alliterative fusion of three simple words would have such a profound impact on the future of information technology and the way we communicate. And on food. Although few of us understand what’s really going on in cyber-space, www has become a household “word” and making friends with people in far-off places is as easy as commenting on a blog.

Which brings me to the point of this post – Anne’s butternut, leek and ginger soup. The recipe originally came from Mitchell Beazley’s book, The Simple Art of Marrying Food & Wine. Anne, whom I met ages ago at Miles Collins’ blog, left her version of the soup in the comment section of my Dia de los Muertos post. I doubt that Tim and Robert had friendships, food writing and recipe exchanges in mind when they wrote their proposal for the HyperText Project and dubbed the nebulous world of mark-up language and stored information the WorldWideWeb. But that’s how things have unfolded in my little corner of culinary cyber-space (alliterations aside).

WWW has turned into FFF. WorldWideWeb. FoodFriendshipFun. I love it!

Okay, I’ve indulged myself in some off-kilter rambling, now on to food. This week’s CSA box contained butternut squash, onions, leeks and an assortment of other fall veggies and fruit. As luck would have it, those were the ingredients in Anne’s version of Mitchell’s version of butternut squash soup. Thanks for the inspiration, Anne. Here’s my version.

Butternut squash leek onion ginger curry coconut soup
what you need
1-2 butternut squashes (I ended up with about 4 cups of peeled and cubed squash) *
4 cups vegetable broth (or chicken)
1 cup water
2/3 cup light coconut milk
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 apple, washed, peeled, cored and chopped
2 leeks, trimmed and chopped
2-3 tablespoons butter
1-2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger (I like things gingery, use less if you please)
2 teaspoons curry powder *
roasted pumpkin seeds

what you do
Melt butter in a medium soup pot. Add onions and leeks and sauté until lightly browned. Add broth, water, apple, squash and ginger and simmer until squash is tender (30 minutes or so). Remove from heat and let cool for 15-20 minutes. Carefully puree soup in a food processor, in batches, and transfer back into the soup pot. Add curry seasoning and coconut milk, stir well and reheat. Top with a few roasted pumpkin seeds, even though I forgot to do it before taking the picture.

* Check with Amy at SS & GF for detailed instructions on how to peel and chop butternut squash.

* My Madras-style curry mix contains turmeric, cayenne pepper, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, white pepper, cinnamon, fennel, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves and Tellicherry black pepper.

The sisterhood of the traveling soup bowls would like to thank Tim and Robert for setting into motion the worldwideweb. We also appreciate the random brother with a bowl. Go forth and make soup!
Melissa

Whew, sometimes life takes over and blogging ends up slipping down the priority list faster than a sprint finish at the Tour de France.

To make a long story short, I’ve been a bit overwhelmed lately (I’ll spare you the details), the last straw being the perfect storm that hit my area the night before last. I can’t imagine being a farmer and watching the wind and hail annihilate my crops; months of hard work reduced to shreds in a matter of minutes. My little garden was destroyed, large tree limbs broken, flower pots ruined and my car damaged by golf-ball sized hail. With each season that I’m a Grant Farms CSA shareholder, my respect for farmers and my appreciation for fresh, organic produce increases. The photo above is a small sampling of what I received in my CSA box on Monday. The photo below is of my garden Tuesday morning after the storm. I had about twenty vegetable plants, plus an assortment of herbs and flowers.

Everything is gone.

Such is life for a small-time, recreational gardener. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a big deal. But, if my lively-hood hinged on extreme weather fluctuations and fragile plants, it would be devistating.

On another note, I can’t complain about my chard and cabbage when it could have been my house that was ruined (this one’s nearby). Check out the size of this tree; completely uprooted, crushing the house.

Spicy veggie curry with brown rice
(make rice according to directions and time it so both dishes are finished at the same time)

what you need
1 cup full-fat coconut milk
1/2 cup water or broth
1 and 1/2 tablespoon peanut butter (I used fresh-ground)
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium sized carrot, juilienned
1/2 cup zucchini, juilienned
1/2 cup peas
kohlrabi, peeled and juilienned (I used 1 small bulb)
1 cup cauliflower, washed and cut in small florets
1 cup broccoli, washed and trimmed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 and 1/2 tablespoons curry powder (I used Hot Curry Powder from Penzeys Spices)
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
coconut oil for sautéing
cilantro (if you have it)

These ingredients were what I had available from my CSA delivery, mix and match your veggies according to what you have on hand. Skip the peanut butter if you don’t want a “peanutty” taste and add whole roasted cashews instead (blend in at the end of cooking). This is a launching pad recipe, adjust to your liking.

what you do
Using a small amount of oil in a medium pot, sauté onions and garlic until tender. Add coconut milk and stir in curry powder and salt until all lumps dissolve. Add water or broth and peanut butter and continue stirring until well blended. Simmer and stir until you have the consistency you like. Add vegetables, cover and simmer until veggies are lightly cooked (just a few minutes). I added the peas at the end so they would remain crisp. Taste and adjust the seasonings (add more curry or salt). Serve over brown rice and top with a touch of cilantro.

For a detailed post on rice, check here.

I’m back — and thankful for fresh veggies and an intact roof over my head.
Melissa