I threw this together because I happened to have all these ingredients, winging it as I went. The final addition of the vegan queso really made the dish and it was pure chance that I added it (“oh, we have some of this left from last night, let’s see how it tastes!”). I’m always ad-libbing in the kitchen in this fashion but this one was good enough to share on The Epicurean Librarian.
This took about an hour from prep to final soup. Of course, the smaller you chop the squash and carrots the quicker they’ll cook. I used a potato masher to smash things up a bit before using the blender. Don’t blend too long – be sure to leave plenty of chunky squash and carrots.
Butternut Piquillo Carrot Soup (vegan)
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- 1 medium butternut squash
- 6-8 large carrots
- 1 14oz can roasted sweet piquillo peppers
- 5-6 cloves garlic
- 1 large sweet onion
- 32 oz vegetable stock
- 2 oz (1/2 can) diced mild minced green chilies
- 5-6 oz (1/2 jar) Siete Spicy Blanco Cashew Queso
- 3-4 tablespoons vegan sour cream
- 1 tablespoon cumin, or to taste
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
- salt and pepper to taste
- olive oil
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Veggie prep: Peel squash, remove seeds, cut into 1 inch pieces. Peel carrots, chop into into similar size pieces. Chop onion and mince garlic cloves. Drain piquillo pepper, rinse and chop. Separate into two equal batches.
Saute onions in olive oil until nearly tender, add cumin, cilantro and garlic, then sauce 2-3 more minutes. Add stock and heat until nearly boiling. Add chopped squash, carrots, and half of the piquillo peppers, and enough water to cover.
Bring to boil, then simmer for 20-30 minutes. Add the rest of the piquillo peppers and the minced chiles.
Simmer until the carrots and squash are soft, then remove from heat. Mash the veggies with a potato masher, then puree with an immersion blender until it’s smooth but still chunky.
Add the queso and sour cream and stir until thoroughly mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with a dash (or four) of your choice of hot sauce. We’ve had it with crackers and homemade biscuits – the biscuits were especially nice.
Enjoy!
Butternut Piquillo Carrot Soup
