Thursday, October 23, 2008

squash bisque and pumpkin sausages

Yeah, that's right.  I've eaten soup 3 times in the past week.  Wanna make something of it?  I didn't think so.  Because soup is awesome, when it's done right.  And this soup, my friends, was done completely and totally right.  If you haven't been over to VeganYumYum yet to make the Delicata Squash Bisque, do so immediately.  I have never had a soup this good.  Ever.  Michael and I ate the entire pot and then lolled around on the couch/floor (not enough room for both of us on my stupid loveseat to lounge) with bellies full of pure love.  Speaking of love, look how Michael put little hearts in his soup with the cashew cream:
darn that boy and his creativity!

We've decided that once I get rich and famous from my silly food blog, I will do most of the cooking and he will do all the presentation and be my photo helper by holding the lights.  We make a good team.  What you see there on the side is some pumpkin sausages I made.  Except....  they weren't as good as I wanted them to be.  They were good.  Just not great.  And they would have been great if I hadn't chickened out at the end and added fennel to them because I was  nervous that all the sage I put in wouldn't be enough flavor.  Result?  They tasted like nothing but fennel, and I only added like 1/2 a teaspoon of the stuff.  Frustration!  They would have been so good otherwise.  Well, also I used a different brand of wheat gluten than I normally do and it has a strong taste, for some reason.  They tasted gluten-y.  So, with the complete and total eradication of fennel and using my normal gluten, they would have been great.  I'll give you the recipe (with the right way to do it) when I get it right.  We also decided, for the sake of color, that the dish required a little sauteed salad of spinach, clover sprouts and cherry tomatoes.  It was pretty good.  
but nothing tops this soup.  nothing.

I feel like I haven't said enough about the soup.  It's just so good.  The cashew cream is what makes it so good.  It's smooth and creamy and soooo savory...  I could eat this for the next 2 weeks and not be sad about it for a minute.  I mean really, do yourself a favor here.  I didn't have 3 pounds of delicata squash (we had 2) so I subbed in a small butternut.  I also used 'chicken' bouillon instead of homemade veggie stock (no time no time! and i was out of veggie bouillons).  Still awesome.  

The reason soup is so big on my mind right now is that I'm freezing already.  Ok, I just looked at a thermometer in my apartment and it says 66F.  Why am I so cold?  I don't know, but I always am, and I feel like I'm colder than usual this year.  Which doesn't make sense because I weigh 10 pounds more than I did this time last year.  Insulation?  Psh.  Not working.  I honestly, right at this moment (and for the rest of the winter) have a space heater pointed directly at me on full blast.  We don't heat our apartment with anything but space heaters (our gas heater is old and crappy and ineffective and expensive), so it gets mighty chilly in here.  Just wait til it snows outside.  I will be complaining more than you can imagine.  That being said, soup is perfect for those cold nights with no real heat in the apartment.  I even tossed off my blanket and turned the heater away from me for a few minutes during and after eating it last night!  

In other words, I like being warm.  Not hot, just warm.  I bet if our apartment had real heat, I wouldn't eat soup so much.  At this point, I want to spend as much time in the kitchen with the oven on as possible, so...  I'm gonna go bake some cookies.


17 comments:

Virginia said...

cookies, yes! and that soup does look delicious! i couldn't live without our central heat, so you get props from me. i'm freezing if it gets to 72!

Anonymous said...

Now I must make two soups you've posted about. I will be eating nothing but soup as well... And good for us! It's cold in my apartment also, and the space heater helps, but so does lazing around in a winter cap wrapped in a sleeping bag sipping tea and eating the baked treats I get to bust into (from you!!) when I get off work... One more hour to go...

tofufreak said...

i love the hearts! so cute! your descriptions are making me hungry :D

cookies? yes, please!

Georgia said...

There is no such thing as too much soup ;) I do miss my thick warm soups in the summer - but I am going to store up awesome recipes like this for next autumn and winter!!!

Anonymous said...

awww what cute hearts<3!!!

aTxVegn said...

I just bought a delicata squash. Now I'm psyched to make the soup!

Unknown said...

ap, you're so freakin adorable...stop it, lol! i can't wait to try this soup! and... a ton of your recipes actually. keep up the blogging, i love it!

Anonymous said...

Thanks again for telling me how to make seitan good. I should have thanked you in my last post but I thought your ego might get too big :o)

you are my 'Seitan Yoda'.

And if you're cold~try making bbq sauce with a heaped spoonful of Cayenne Pepper in it- that'll warm you up!

ZippyZu said...

Layers, layers, layers! It's been cold here the past few days as well and I have definately not adjusted to wearing the layers myself.. I'm still trying to hang on to my flip flops! Seriously- I don't like squash much but this look fricken awesome, I wish my husband were vegan and would cook me stuff!

Jen Treehugger said...

That meal looks freaking yum and so cute too. A dish made with LURRRVE.
:)

Anonymous said...

I love soup, so I'm a pretty easy sell, but I gotta tell you, all that love in there, and those hearts...you're killing me with cute!

miss v said...

wtf? i posted the best comment of your life last night (probably b/c of some nice octoberfest beer), and i obviously didn't save it correctly. grrr.. damn beer.

well, if i could remember it, it would be cool. but i can't...

so, isn't it weird how food can tend to be so monochrome? i'm always thinking about how to make it look nicer, but i usually get to lazy. nice work on spicing it up.

Kristin said...

I am going to have to make that soup this weekend. I have 1 delicata squash on the counter and a aluminum pumpkin from the CSA. Hopefully that will taste just as good. Thanks for the idea.

And, I have some Field Roast Apple Sage sausages in the freezer that I'll have to pull out to go with.

allularpunk said...

virginia - you have central heat? lucky!

vegan addict - yes. space heater, sleeping bag, hats, tea..all recipes for warmth in my book. oh yes, and package love.

tofufreak - mwahaha..that was my evil plan all along.

georgia - i'm glad you're stockpiling and that our u.s. recipes are of some use to you :) because otherwise i would be sad.

conquerbysmiling - cute is what we aim for?

atxvegan - you will not regret it, buddy.

erica - i'm glad you like my stuffs..but who are you!? i can't see your profile, and it makes me sad.

becks - my ego cannot get enough, haha.. and yeah, i need some cayenne in my life right about now.

crystal - i do wear layers! usually at least an undershirt, tshirt, and sweater, sometimes more. i dunno what's wrong with me. and yeah, your husband should cook for you whether he's vegan or not.

jeni - we lurve lurrrrve.

shellyfish - haha.. i had no idea how much cuteness this post included, i swear!

miss v - psh! i wanna see your original comment! i mean...i'm obviously missing out, here. also, yeah, i've started to really not like monochrome dishes. i dunno if it's because i'm posting them online and they look crappy in pictures or if i'm actually starting to care that i eat more colorful veggies... it's a tossup.

kristin - dip the sausages in the soup. that's what we did after the camera got put away!

jessy said...

oooooooooooooo! i super love the little cashew cream hearts! and you and Michael make a rock'n team - hells yeah!

dan and i fear soup. we have yet to make one. he scared the hell out of me a while ago and said "jessy, it's a real challenge making a super good soup. i mean, think of all the yumminess you've had in your life - how many of those yummies have been soups." i couldn't think of a one. **gulp** so now i'm a bit scared. i really want to make soup, but i don't want it to suck "the balls" - but i think i'm gonna have to give this soup a try. of course i'm gonna have to wait until dan's out of town or something, because he abhors squash (along with every other veggie i puffy heart the most). but anyways....

the pumpkin sausage looks rock'n - fuck that fennel. it's a jerk! i'm not a fan of the wheat gluten taste either. ick! and i wish my damn stomach could handle seitan. my life would be awesome if that were the case, but i think i always bitch about that - but still, makes me sadfaced!

keep warm - and take pictures of cookies. hooray for cookies! ohhh - and your baked AWESOMENESS looked super rock'n over on vegan addict! triplew00t!

Vegan_Noodle said...

You have definitely convinced me to make that soup!! Those hearts made of cashew cream are so cute. Don't we all wish we could just be professional bloggers? I know I do....

Unknown said...

I'm pinkerbell from vegweb, sorry, should have told you that in my first comment.