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Saturday, August 27, 2011

Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Crab

Judy's on Cherry in Reading, Pa. serves this soup which was the inspiration to find a similar recipe to create at home.


Ingredients
2 onions (1 lb. total), peeled and chopped
1 c. chopped celery
2 Tbs. butter or margarine
1/4 c. tomato paste
3 Tbs. curry powder
2 lb. butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 Granny Smith apples (1 lb. total), peeled and coarsely chopped
6 c. fat-skimmed chicken broth
2 Tbs. minced fresh ginger
2 whole cloves
1/2 tsp. cracked pepper
1/2 c. dry sherry
1/2 lb. shelled cooked crab
Thinly sliced red bell pepper (optional)
Sea salt to taste
Preparation:
In a 5- to 6- quart pan over high heat, stir onions and celery in butter until limp, about 5 minutes.  Add tomato paste and curry powder, and stir 1 minute longer.  Add squash, apples, broth, 4 cups water, ginger, bay leaf, cloves and pepper.  Stirring often, bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until squash mashes easily, 30 to 40 minutes.  Remove and discard bay leaf and cloves.  In a blender or food processor, whirl squash mixture, a portion at a time, until smooth.  Pour purée through a fine strainer back into pan.  Add sherry and stir over medium heat until just steaming, about 2 minutes.  Meanwhile, remove any bits of shell from crab.  Ladle soup into wide bowls.
Mound equal portions of crab in the center of each bowl.  Garnish with bell pepper, if desired.  Add your sea salt to taste.  Your efforts in preparing this soup will prove to be well worth your time.
Cheers!

2 comments:

TomK said...

This is a very good recipe but definitely calls for too much curry. Perhaps the author meant 3 teaspoons of curry -- not tablespoons. When I followed this recipe, the soup was (spicy) hot enough to make my head sweat. Three weeks later we ate at Judy's on Cherry and I relayed this story to Judy. "Oh no, the curry should be subtle, barely noticeable," she said.

Laurie said...

Hi Tom

Sorry the soup was too spicy for you! Reviewing the original recipe which I said was "similar" to Judy's, it is indeed 3 Tbs. With any recipe one has to adjust to taste :) Love Judy's on Cherry and recommend it to anyone when in Reading, Pa!