This year I grew Kabocha squash for the first time and last week I picked the first one.  I don't have a lot of Kabocha squash recipes, in fact I don't think I had ever cooked with one before, so I adapted my butternut squash and cremini mushroom risotto to use the roasted Kabocha squash.  I thought I picked a relatively small squash but since it didn't have many seeds it ended up yielding about 3 ½  cups of roasted squash.  The squash was really yummy and tasted great in the risotto but I was left with a cup or so of  roasted squash.   The next day I saw the post for Leftover Tuesdays #8 and at the same time the weather turned and it got chilly here.  A perfect storm for leftover kabocha squash soup.  

A cup of squash doesn't yield a lot of soup but it was a perfect amount for a quick and easy lunch - especially since the squash was already roasted.  I simply blended the squash, a cup of chicken broth, a half cup of milk (I used skim) and a bit of sage until smooth.  I heated the mixture on the stove until hot and WOW was that great soup.  I really don't think it took me much longer to make than fetching a can of soup but the flavor was amazing.  Initially, I had intended on having half the soup with a sandwich but if was so good that I ate it all and had some fruit for my lunchtime dessert…  

I have two more Kabocha in the garden.  The only trick will be to restrain from eating both now so that we can enjoy some wonderful Kabocha soup in the middle of the winter .

By the way - if you're wondering how I roasted the Kabocha, which has a very hard shell, I'll share a fun trick I learned from Chef Suzanne Tracht at Jar in Los Angeles.  Chef Suzanne roasts the squash whole after having pierced the shell with a couple of holes.  I used a knife steel but a sterilized screwdriver may be the ultimate tool for the piercing.  Once roasted the squash is super easy to cut and work with - a stark contrast to the very hard raw squash…

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