25 February 2007

The last stored squash

Here at P’soup Towers we don’t like going grocery shopping. We’re a bit lazy, if truth be told, and will quite often put it off as long as we possibly can without actually having to miss meals. Sometimes this can inspire us to acts of culinary creativity as we attempt to rustle up something nourishing and delicious from ingredients as disparate as risotto rice, canned chestnuts and marmalade. I call these ‘Mother Hubbard’ meals. More often than not they turn out to be tasty enough to fill us up and take our minds off the fact that we will have to face the supermarket sometime very soon. Sometimes they can be surprisingly delicious.

As part of a relaxing, not doing very much weekend, I had it in my mind that I would pootle in the kitchen doing a little gentle cooking in spite of not having done any food shopping for longer than is decent. The cupboard is almost bare, but I knew we still had onions, tomato puree, stock cubes, tins of black-eyed beans and the last two allotment-grown turks’ turban squashes. I was all set for some laid-back soup making, and feeling smug that I would be able to knock up a tasty, nutritious concoction from pretty much the last scrapings of the pantry.

Alas, pride comes before a fall.

I wrestled with the squashes, cut them into segments, brushed them with oil and then gave them a good grinding of black pepper all over, before shoving them in the oven for a good slow roast. At this point I decided to pull out my other ingredients only to discover that I didn’t actually have any tins of black-eyed beans. This was something of a shock - we generally buy six or so tins at a time and end up amassing huge stocks of the things, so how we managed to polish them all off without realising is strange. Plus, it left me in something of a quandary as by now I had set my heart on squash and bean soup. So much for avoiding the supermarket!

My willing assistant (no really, he’s a sweetie like that) braved the weather and nipped out to the shops to pick up some tins of beans so that my soup making aspirations could be fulfilled. He got completely drenched for his efforts. But we do now have enough gorgeous soup to feed us for a lot of lunches (I reckon we’ve got about 12 - 14 portions). Details below - as usual my amounts are pretty slapdash:

1. Roast chunks of squash as detailed above (we used one large and one small).
2. Finely chop a couple of onions and cook in a little oil until browned.
3. Add about two tablespoons of tomato puree, some herbs and black pepper.
4. When the squash is cooked, scrape the flesh from the skin and add to the pot along with a can of black-eyed beans. Add enough stock to cover, bring to the boil, then allow to simmer for a few minutes.
5. After simmering, blend the soup until smooth. Try not to send it spraying all over the kitchen wall as I so spectacularly did today.
6. Finally, stir in another can of black-eyed beans. Check and adjust seasoning. Serve with warm crusty bread and enjoy in front of a roaring fire while wearing thick, woolly socks and putting off going grocery shopping for yet another day.

Filed under: Recipes - P'soup — Clare @ 8:06 pm