Curried Acorn Squash Soup

based off of this recipe

Ingredients:
1 small (sweet) onion, chopped into small pieces, about 1/2cm
4 stalks of celery, chopped into very thin slices
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp dill weed
1 tsp yellow curry powder (maybe more)
1/2 tsp chili powder
dash vermouth or white wine
2 cups vegetable stock
12 oz can evaporated milk
3 cups cooked, mashed acorn squash*
cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Melt butter in a large pot.
2. Add onions, celery, and garlic and saute on medium heat until vegetables are soft.
3. Add flour, dill, curry powder, chili powder, and vermouth and stir in.
4. Add stock and milk in ~1/2 cup increments, stirring to incorporate after each addition. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
5. Add squash and stir to mix fully.
6. Add salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. I like things salty and hot, so I added quite a bit. The salt is partly in lieu of bouillon (which is very salty), and the squash and onion are sweet so you may need to add a lot. Add slowly so as not to oversalt! You may also want to add more curry (the original recipe called for 1/4 tsp and I ended up adding more like 2tsp), so feel free!
7. Cook, stirring constantly, until heated through.
8. OPTIONAL: Put soup in blender (small batches at a time) or a food processor and blend until smooth. I didn't do this, mostly because I am lazy, but also because I like things chunky. It tastes great unblended, just make sure the squash is fully mixed in! If you are going to blend, chopping the onions and celery very small is less important since they will be blended anyway.
9. Enjoy! Great with crusty bread!

Verdict: This was delicious! I loved it and want to eat it all the time. It could easily be veganized by using a vegan milk (unsweetened) or cream. I liked that the recipe called for condensed milk instead of cream, so there wasn't much fat in this soup even though it is very rich tasting. This soup is very thick. If you prefer a thinner soup, I'd suggest adding 1c more stock. You can always add more stock at the end, but you'll have to adjust the spices to taste.

This recipe makes about 6 large (or maybe 10 small) bowls of soup.


*I used 3 small acorn squashes. To cook them, I cut each in half, scooped out the seeds (save and toast them later!), put them face down on a plate and microwaved for 25 minutes. They are very hot! Put them in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes then when they are cool enough to touch, scoop into a bowl and mash with a masher or wooden spoon.