Squash and Pepper Soup

At certain points in the gardening season, when things are coming in fast and furious, many gardeners give up careful canning and preservation strategies and just start chopping up stuff and throwing it in the freezer.

I made quite a few loaves of zucchini bread this summer, but near the end I just sliced a bunch, blanched it, and threw it in freezer bags. A little later I got tired of making red pepper sauce but still had paprika peppers, so I diced them and threw them in the freezer.

I figured I’d throw the peppers in soups and stews, but wasn’t sure what I’d do with the sure-to-be-mushy zucchini. Until someone on FB mentioned zucchini soup!

Last night I wanted to make a soup with the last of the butternut squashes (a small one) and decided to raid the freezer for other ingredients– as much garden as I could muster on March 1.

The result was just the most flavorful, excellent soup ever. I’m sticking to my big epiphany of the winter being how much flavor red peppers add to stews/soups. Here’s the recipe.

Squash and Pepper Soup

1 medium onion, finely diced
1 medium stalk celery, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
olive oil
3-5 cloves garlic, smashed or finely diced
3 cups butternut squash, diced/cubed (mine as fresh, but could be frozen or pureed)
2-3 cups zucchini (one medium, again fresh or frozen)
2-3 cups diced sweet red pepper
2 Tbs chipotle peppers in adobo sauce or other hot red peppers
14 oz can of tomatoes (or a few tomatoes, fresh or frozen, or the half jar I had in the fridge)
4-6 cups of chicken broth (or vegetable)
2 Tbs sour cream, cream, or yogurt (if you want it creamier, which I do)

Begin with the mirepoix: onion/celery/carrot in olive oil simmered on low for 10 minutes (no browning). Add garlic and saute 1 minute until fragrant.

While the vegetables are sauteing, cook the butternut squash in boiling water for 5-8 minutes. Drain (keep some liquid if you are using vegetable broth).

Add the two types of squash and peppers and saute a couple minutes. Add the tomatoes and broth and simmer 10-15 minutes. You want all the ingredients to be very soft. Blend it in a blender or with an immersion blender until smooth. (The zucchini skin gives great green flecks and the red pepper lovely red flecks in the golden orange soup.) Stir in the sour cream if desired and serve hot with bread and butter.

Serves 6