Curried Lentil Soup with Acorn Squash

1 Acorn Squash
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbs chopped garlic, or 2-3 cloves
4 Tbsp olive oil, divided
2 Tbsp curry paste
1 Tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup lentils (your choice)
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 Tbs vegetarian broth base (see previous soup post)
4 C filtered tap water
Notes: You can use the curry powder or paste of your choice. This is the one I used:
and a little bit of this:


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Begin by cutting an acorn squash in half. Remove the seeds and rinse them under a colander, loosening the seeds from the squishy stuff. Place in a pan, and toss with 2 Tbsp olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Cook for 10-15 minutes, watching carefully to avoid over-browning. Meanwhile, rub the inside of the cleaned out acorn squash with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place cut side down on a greased baking sheet and place in oven. Continue to cook until soft--about 30-45 minutes, turning once or twice.

While the squash is roasting, preheat a large soup pot to medium heat. Heat remaining 2 Tbs olive oil and add onion. Season with salt and pepper and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add chopped garlic, curry paste, and curry powder. Saute until fragrant, blending the curry paste in with a wooden spoon.

Stir in the tomatoes, lentils, broth paste and water. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down. Allow to simmer for about 30 minutes or so, until the lentils are tender. By this time, your squash should be done and sitting on the stove, cooling down.

Did you remember to get the seeds out?

Scoop the squash out of it's shell and add to the soup. You can blend this until smooth, or keep it chunky. I reserved about a cup and a half and then ground the rest up with my immersion blender.

Serve the soup with the toasted acorn squash seeds on top. We had ours with some Farmhouse bread I baked up in the bread machine.