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Orange-Scented Winter Squash and Carrot Soup
Updated April 30, 2024
![Orange-Scented Winter Squash and Carrot Soup](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/01/10/science/recipehealthcarrot/recipehealthcarrot-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 6allspice berries
- 4green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
- 2bay leaves
- 2thyme sprigs
- 10peppercorns
- Strips of zest from 1 orange
- 2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1medium onion, chopped
- ½pound carrots, diced
- 2pounds peeled winter squash, such as butternut or kabocha
- 2garlic cloves, minced
- 6cups water, chicken stock or vegetable stock
- 1medium potato (about 5 ounces)
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- ½cup fresh orange juice or additional stock or water
- Cayenne to taste
- ¼cup cooked black quinoa
- 1tablespoon toasted pistachio oil
For Garnish
Preparation
- Step 1
Cut a square piece of cheesecloth to make a bag for spices, herbs and orange peel. Place allspice berries, cardamom cloves, bay leaves, thyme sprigs and strips of orange zest on cheesecloth. Fold two ends over, then roll up the cheesecloth like a burrito and tie tightly with kitchen string.
- Step 2
Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven and add onion and carrots. Cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add winter squash and garlic and cook, stirring, until the mixture smells fragrant, about 1 minute. Add water or stock, potato, spice bag, and salt to taste and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes to 1 hour, until squash is very tender. Remove spice bag but first press it against side of the pot to extract liquid.
- Step 3
Using a hand blender, or in batches in a regular blender, purée the soup. If using a regular blender cover the top of the jar with a towel pulled down tight, rather than airtight with the lid. Return to pot and whisk in the orange juice (or additional stock or water). Taste, adjust seasonings, and heat through.
- Step 4
Toss quinoa with 1 teaspoon of the pistachio oil. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with some of the quinoa. Drizzle a little more oil over each bowl and serve.
- Advance preparation: The soup will hold for several hours, in or out of the refrigerator. Proceed with Step 4 just before serving.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Made this last week as a trial run for Thanksgiving. A hit w adults.
- It's fine to use frozen squash (and saves a ton of time)
- I'm roasting the squash with a little ground allspice and cardamom - going for a deeper flavor.
- I'll put it through a sieve to get rid of the final little lumps
- I'll thin it to use as a "soup shooter" appetizer, and use thinned sour cream and minced parsley as garnish - less ick factor for the kiddos, I think, than black quinoa.
This is a lovely light soup with wonderful orange flavour. I added more orange juice and finished with some finely grated orange rind. It was a big hit.
I love this soup, and I wanted to make a double recipe, but was short of time, so I opted for the Speedy Version (less chopping!). I cut the carrots, onion, and butternut squash in half, and roasted them. While they were cooking, I simmered the bouquet garni and the potato in the vegetable broth. When the roasted vegetables were soft, I put everything together in a stock pot and used an immersion blender to puree. Twice the volume, all the flavor, in half the time.
I served this at a dinner party - to rave reviews. One diner thought it was fancy-restaurant worthy. I went a little easy on the cardamon pods, as I was afraid they would overpower the soup, but next time I'll use them all.
Roast half of the squash for depth of flavout. Cube it, season with kosher salt, pepper and olive oil, and roast for 30 minutes at 375 F. Add it to the post at the beginning of step 2.
Delicious. I used wild rice. Not a fan of quinoa, really.
Roast half of the squash for depth of flavout. Cube it, season with kosher salt, pepper and olive oil, and roast for 30 minutes at 375 F. Add it to the post at the beginning of step 2.
I love this soup, and I wanted to make a double recipe, but was short of time, so I opted for the Speedy Version (less chopping!). I cut the carrots, onion, and butternut squash in half, and roasted them. While they were cooking, I simmered the bouquet garni and the potato in the vegetable broth. When the roasted vegetables were soft, I put everything together in a stock pot and used an immersion blender to puree. Twice the volume, all the flavor, in half the time.
Like someone else who commented, I used a sweet potato. When the store surprisingly didn’t have any winter squash, I subbed with an additional 1 lb carrots and 1 lb sweet potatoes. Highly recommend taking the time to squeeze orange juice (I used Cara Cara oranges). Also, I never have cheesecloth when I need it, so all the spices and orange peel went in loose-using an immersion blender kicked them up and made them easy enough to pick out.
I am a huge admirer of both Mr. Ottolenghi and Ms. Shulman, so I was excited to find this recipe. It turned out beautifully - the flavor, the aroma and the silky texture were all wonderful. I followed the lead of AnnP and roasted my butternut squash (fresh from the garden), and included a roasted apple. The bouquet garni in this recipe adds soooo much flavor - I may start using it in more of my soups.
Needs more orange zest. Pistachio oil? Not brilliant. Try some finely diced orange zest and a dollop of yogurt.
Used a sweet potato instead of regular. Added small amount of fresh ginger to herb bundle Garnished with wild rice.
Made as written with Wegmans vegetable stock instead of water.. Used 2 Japanese squashes that I roasted in the oven . Quarter and drizzled with oil before roasting. About 10 medium size carrots, 1/2 onion and no garlic. 3/4 tbsp of salt. The rest is as written . A little too sweet , but it could be because I used no garlic . Next time I will use less orange juice , more salt , little pepper, spices, maybe a little lemon juice Overall I like it
We used our favorite no-peel winter squash, delicata. Then we turned it into a fine cold-winter’s-day dinner by not thinning it, and adding a half-cup quinoa — the red we could find, not black, tossed with walnut oil — to each bowl. Sprinkled with sharp paprika to complement the final cayenne, the soup was smooth hearty but full of spice and texture.
Made this tonight with these adaptations:
Took the advice from another cook and roasted the butternut squash with ground allspice (whole is hard to find here) and cinnamon.
Directions don't say what to do with the potato so I chopped it, leaving skin on.
Couldn't find black quinoa, so used a box mix of regular quinoa (50%) rice and sesame. Didn't have pistachio oil, so sprinkled chopped pistachio nuts on top, which gave it a nice crunch and more protein.
Made this last week as a trial run for Thanksgiving. A hit w adults.
- It's fine to use frozen squash (and saves a ton of time)
- I'm roasting the squash with a little ground allspice and cardamom - going for a deeper flavor.
- I'll put it through a sieve to get rid of the final little lumps
- I'll thin it to use as a "soup shooter" appetizer, and use thinned sour cream and minced parsley as garnish - less ick factor for the kiddos, I think, than black quinoa.
This is a lovely light soup with wonderful orange flavour. I added more orange juice and finished with some finely grated orange rind. It was a big hit.
I served this at a dinner party - to rave reviews. One diner thought it was fancy-restaurant worthy. I went a little easy on the cardamon pods, as I was afraid they would overpower the soup, but next time I'll use them all.
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