(Dolen Perkins-Valdez, hardback). From the title you might think this is a book about the s-x word. It’s not. By a long shot. But the story, set in about 1852, is about a black slave woman, and her somewhat misguided “love” for her master. About the children she bore him, under the eagle eye of the master’s wife. But it’s all tied together with a yearly journey made to a place called Tawawa House, a rural inn of sorts in southern Ohio (a free State), that for some years allowed white slave owners to stay at the resort in rustic cottages with their black slaves, as couples. This place existed, according to the author’s afterword, and finally closed because some of the regulars (white couples who stayed in the main house) didn’t fancy this concubine business going on out in the woods. It’s about Lizzie’s relationships with the other slave women, about their desire to run to safety through the local underground, about them secretly meeting some free blacks, finding out more about abolition, and about the hardships all these black mistresses endured, and how little their lives were valued. A real stunning book. (I was sent this book as a perk from Harper Collins – because I had mentioned The Help. No strings attached – I could choose to mention this book, or not, here on my blog. I’m glad to because it’s a very good read.)
(Jamie Ford, on my Kindle). A poignant story about a Chinese-American, growing up in Seattle at the beginning of World War II. Henry falls in love with a young Japanese girl before her family is interned in a relocation camp. It a very secretive relationship because his parents would highly disapprove. The story goes back to the 40’s and forward to the 1980’s when Henry is in his 50’s and his wife (not the Japanese woman) has just died of cancer. The story pulls you in from the first page, especially when some artifacts are found in the basement of an old hotel which contain personal belongings from several Japanese families who were suddenly taken away back in 1942. You can see where it’s going, can’t you? I heard criticism of this book that it was just a little bit contrived. Halfway through I’m enjoying it very much.
(Kathryn Stockett on my Kindle, an excellent read); 
by Jetta Carleton (Kindle edition, eh); 
by Susan Richards (Kindle edition, good book); 
by Sally Gunning (Kindle edition, very good read)
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(Mario Batali & Gweneth Paltrow); 
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Seems like there are just a hundred ways to make butternut squash soup. I’ve posted a few – my roasted butternut squash soup (the most complicated of all of my butternut soups, but probably the best tasting too) – and my next favorite, zippy butternut squash soup with jalapeno and ginger. Then there’s another one, roasted butternut squash soup with pancetta and sage too. All of those are made with oven roasting and/or on the stovetop. All the soups are do-able, but I thought hmmm, maybe I could use my new slow cooker and make the jalapeno and ginger one even easier than it already was.
I looked up the ingredients and piled them into the slow cooker. Which means this is one of those recipes when you can throw it in the pot and forget it. No pre-cooking of anything. I didn’t saute the onions, or garlic. All I did was set it on high for about 2 hours, then at low for another 3-4 hours. Then I put everything in the blender, (in batches) along with just a bit of heavy cream and it was lick-the-bowl delicious. I didn’t add the brown sugar because it didn’t need it. I didn’t have creme fraiche which was called for in the original recipe, either, but otherwise the ingredients were very close to the first one. Quantities were a bit different. What makes this great is you can put everything into the crockpot and not have to bother with waiting for it to simmer. If you’re not going to be home, just do the normal thing – set on automatic (the older crockpots did that for you – my new one doesn’t) and it cooks for 2 hours at high, then switches to low until you turn it off.
Once the soup was smoothed out in the blender, I reheated it and served the soup with some toasted pecans on top. If you are going to make this, I’d recommend using my Peppered Pecans (my all-time favorite spicy nut) to garnish the soup. I happened to have had some leftover pecans from the Radicchio Salad I made a week or so ago which had a touch of cayenne in them. They were great on the soup. I particularly liked the texture change – the soup needs something to give it a different texture from the silky smooth consistency of the soup. Or, if you don’t want to be fancy, just toast some pecans in a nonstick skillet. The recipe made about 12 cups (2 cup servings), so I divided up the leftovers and put them in freezer bags (pictured) to go into my ongoing soup library.
Crockpot Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger & Jalapeno
Servings: 6
3 pounds butternut squash — peeled, cubed
4 cloves garlic — peeled, minced
1 medium yellow onion — diced
1 whole jalapeno chile pepper — seeded, in chunks
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 cup ginger — about a 2-inch chunk, sliced
6 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup pecans — toasted and minced
1. Into the crockpot place the squash cubes, garlic, onion, jalapeno, salt, ginger and chicken broth. Add enough broth to not quite cover the squash. Push the ginger and garlic down into the liquid.
2. Turn onto a high setting and cook for about 2 hours, until the squash is completely soft. Turn temperature to low and continue cooking for another 2 hours or more.
3. If time permits, cool slightly, then in batches, puree the soup in a blender. Do not fill more than half full as the heat and steam may blow the lid off.
4. Serve immediately, or cool and reheat later. Garnish with toasted pecans, if desired.
5. If doing this in a traditional crockpot, set temp to low and cook for 6-7 hours, then continue from step 3 above.
Per Serving: 299 Calories; 18g Fat (50.4% calories from fat); 9g Protein; 31g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 36mg Cholesterol; 1410mg Sodium.
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A year ago: Coconut Banana Bread
Marie
said on February 4th, 2009:
This soup looks fabulous Carolyn. I love butternut squash soups of any kind and I ADORE your soup library!! What a fabulous idea!
Do you mean, Marie, with all the cooking you do, you haven’t discovered flat-freezing soups? Makes it so easy to defrost! . . . Carolyn T