Butternut squash and kale soup

Have barely cooked all week so I still have a fridge full of food. On Wednesday I took the time to peel and chop a butternut squash. This was a good use of time. I was able to quickly prepare one serving for lunch on Friday and two servings for dinner on Friday by microwaving for 3 minutes then mashing with cinnamon.

The whole reason I prepared the squash was to make soup with the kale.

Butternut squash and kale soup
2 large tomatoes, cut into quarters,
1 leek, sliced in half lengthwise, almost to tip, but keep intact
1/4 onion, cut in half
6 garlic cloves whole,
2 1/2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 4-5 pieces
Celery root, peeled and cut into chunks
1 Yukon potato
Olive oil for roasting
6-8 cups chicken stock
3 leaves crinkle kale, cut into small pieces
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs thyme
1 can cannellini beans, rinsed
1 can kidney beans, rinsed

I brushed a jelly roll pan with olive oil, added my vegetables and then add more oil to the vegetables and stirred it around. Maybe a real roasting pan would have been a better choice... easier to stir. Stir a couple times while cooking.

Vegetables roasted at 400degrees for 30minutes, until tender.

I put 5 cups chicken broth in my Dutch oven with the thyme and bay leaf. Brought to a boil.

Picked through the roasted vegetables. Put the onion, garlic without the peel, and tomato into my blender and blended until smooth.

The rest of the vegetables I transferred to the cutting board and sliced into smaller pieces. Maybe I should have roasted them as small pieces, so I didn't have to cut them again while hot. As it was I still had big chunks of vegetables.

I put everything in with the kale and stock, then added the beans. I then added a couple turns of the salt grinders and peppercorn grinder. My stock was low sodium, so not a lot of salt except for what I added.

I simmered this for 15 minutes.

Served hot with crusty French roll. Yum!

Bert liked the soup fine. I thought it was still kind of bland. In my second helping I added some curry powder, and that helped. I like curry flavor. Also need to figure out the right size for the vegetable cut.

Braised cabbage

Tonight we tried Braised cabbage. Recipe found here:
https://stillmansfarm.wordpress.com/

I didn't want to buy a 1/2 gallon of cider, so I bought a 12oz bottle of hard cider.
I didn't buy caraway seeds because Trader Joes didn't have them and I didn't want to stop at another store. I tried cumin instead.
I didn't buy fresh thyme either and used dried instead.
I added my last turnip with the apple. The apple wasn't a Granny Smith. I think it was a Cortland.
I shredded the cabbage by using my mandolin on the julienne setting. That worked really well. All of the skin on my hand is still intact!

Bert melted the butter, added the turnip for two minutes, then the apple for another two minutes, then the cider and spices, waited three minutes, then added the cabbage, covered and simmered for 9 minutes.

This all took about 20 minutes. We served this with roasted potatoes and chicken.
Overall, I am not a fan of cabbage. This dish was edible, and certainly an acceptable way to get rid of some cabbage. I think that it needed more apple flavor, so either I needed to use more cider or buy real cider.  I will try the leftovers tomorrow.