Moroccan Butternut Squash & Goat Cheese Soup with Coconut Ginger Cream
Moroccan Butternut Squash & Goat Cheese Soup with Coconut Ginger Cream Pistachios
Moroccan Butternut Squash & Goat Cheese Soup with Coconut Ginger Cream Pistachios
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 head garlic for roasting (or you may sub 2 cloves not roasted)
- 4 cups butternut squash peeled + cubed
- 1 teaspoon spicy curry powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme chopped (or 1/4 teaspoon dried)
- 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk (i used full fat but lite will work too)
- 2 cups veggie broth
- 4 ounces goat cheese softened + more for topping
- roughly chopped cilantro + pistachios for topping
- arils from one pomegranate for topping
- naan for serving
- coconut ginger cream:
- 1/2 cup cooled canned coconut milk
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh ginger
- Carbohydrate 21.4415503861206 g
- Cholesterol 22.396123249 mg
- Fat 15.7021945678929 g
- Fiber 4.04995623004837 g
- Protein 8.02245270984515 g
- Saturated Fat 11.8039642600852 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (324g)
- Sodium 641.986687193613 mg
- Sugar 17.3915941560723 g
- Trans Fat 1.01829646896709 g
- Calories 245 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Chop off the top portion of the garlic head to reveal cloves. Peel any excess paper/skin off the bulb of garlic. Pour about one teaspoon of olive oil on top of the garlic cloves and cover with foil. Roast for 45 minutes, or until the garlic is golden brown and soft. Remove from the oven and allow to cool five minutes. Squeeze garlic out of the paper skin into a small bowl, mash well with a fork and set aside.
- Meanwhile, add the coconut oil to a large soup pot set over medium heat. Once hot, add the red pepper and cook for 3-5 minutes or until soft. Add the cubed butternut squash, spicy curry powder, smoked paprika, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3-5 minutes then pour in the coconut milk and veggie broth. Bring the soup to boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the butternut squash is fork tender.
- While the soup is cooking, make the ginger cream. Add the cold coconut milk and 1 tablespoon ginger to a small bowl. Taste and add more ginger if needed. Cover and place in the fridge until ready to serve.
- Once the butternut squash is tender, add the roasted garlic and the crumbled goat cheese to the soup. Remove the pot from the stove and allow to cool slightly, then puree the soup in a blender or food processor. Return the soup back to the stove and heat through.
- To serve, ladle the soup into bowl. Drizzle the coconut ginger cream over the soup and swirl with a spoon. Garnish with chopped cilantro, chopped pistachios and crumbled goat cheese. Sprinkle with pomegranate arils. Serve aside a hot piece of naan .
Standard vegetable purees rely on heavy cream for body, but this variation builds its silky mouthfeel through roasted alliums and whole-fat coconut milk simmered for twenty to twenty-five minutes until the squash yields entirely to a fork. While purists often associate North African spiced vegetable pots with lamb tagines or dried fruit couscous dishes, this meatless iteration leans entirely on warming ground spices like cinnamon, cumin, and smoked paprika to create depth without meat. Roasting an entire head of garlic at 400 degrees Fahrenheit until the cloves turn golden brown mellows the harsh allium bite into a sweet, paste-like consistency that dissolves seamlessly into the broth. Blending hot liquids requires caution, so let the pot cool slightly before transferring batches to a food processor to avoid thermal expansion accidents. Beyond the initial dinner, this soup actually improves after twenty-four hours in the refrigerator as the spices fully saturate the squash starches. When reheating chilled portions on the stove, thin the mixture with an extra splash of vegetable broth if the starches have set too firmly overnight, and maintain a gentle medium-low heat to prevent scorching the coconut milk solids at the bottom of the pot. Storing the fresh ginger coconut cream separately from the base soup preserves its sharp, pungent bite for up to three days, allowing you to drizzle cold cream over hot bowls for a striking temperature contrast that cuts through the rich goat cheese garnish.
