Dishing Up the Dirt

Ginger-Miso Squash & Bok Choy Soup

It’s that time of the year when feel-good soups are on rotation. Without fail, whenever I feel like I’m getting sick I love a bowl of spicy, brothy, miso soup. And because we’re still in the thick of harvest season here at the farm, I wanted to make a soup that incorporates a few of my favorite seasonal veggies. Delicata squash and bok choy. I also scored some fresh local ginger and it’s SO pungent and delicious and really shines in this soup. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this on here yet, but we’re planning on growing ginger at the farm next year. It’ll be a new crop for us but we know it can grow in our region with some special attention to heat (it really likes heat!) so we’ll need to keep it under row cover most of the season. But talking to other local farmers has made us feel optimistic. So fingers crossed we don’t screw up!

Anyhow, back to this soup. The great news about this dish is that it’s very forgiving and you can use any type of winter squash you have on hand and switch up the bok choy for cabbage, collard greens, spinach or swiss chard. If you’re vegetarian leave out the chicken or add tofu in its place. This soup has a lot of my favorite flavors. Sweet winter squash, salty miso, spicy ginger, and earthy greens. The miso is used two different ways here- first it’s used as a marinade for the squash and chicken which both get roasted together (I know that’s not a purists way of using miso but it tastes really good like this!) Second, the miso is added to the chicken broth with plenty of scallions, ginger and pepper flakes. The broth is pungent and delicious and half of the roasted squash gets pureed into the broth to thicken it up. This soup is unique and delicious and I hope you all enjoy it as much as we do!

Cheers to feel-good soups!

Miso-Squash & Bok Choy Soup

Prep Time: 20 minutes    Cook Time: 30 minutes    Serves: 4

Squash & Chicken
  • 2 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 1/2 Tablespoons white miso
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons low sodium soy sauce or tamari
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 2 Delicata Squash (about 2 1/2 pounds worth) sliced into 1- inch thick wedges (no need to peel-see note)
  • 2 small chicken breasts (or 1 large breast)
Broth/Assembly
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 (2 inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 bunch of scallions, finely chopped (white and pale green parts)
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 4-5 cups homemade chicken or veggie stock (or low salt store-bought)
  • 2 Tablespoons white miso
  • 1 head of bok choy, greens thinly sliced, and stalks roughly chopped
  • a hefty dash of fermented chili paste or Sriracha
  • salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

  1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
  2. With an immersion blender or small food processor blend together the olive oil, miso, maple syrup, soy sauce and pepper flakes. Place the squash and chicken on a rimmed baking sheet (or two) and rub the squash and chicken all over with the dressing. Bake until the squash is tender and slightly caramelized in spots and the chicken is cooked through, about 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and when cool enough to handle shred the chicken.
  3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven or soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the ginger, garlic, scallions and pepper flakes. Cook, stirring often for about 3 minutes. Pour in 4 cups of the stock, bring to a boil then reduce the heat to a very low simmer.
  4. Reserve half of the squash wedges for garnishing the soup and then place the rest of the squash (skin and all) into the pot of soup. Add the miso and use an immersion blender or transfer the soup to a high powered blender and puree the soup.
  5. Add the bok choy stems along with the shredded chicken to the pot and give it a good stir. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the bok choy greens and cook until bright green and wilted. About 2 minutes. Add a dash of fermented chili past or Sriracha. Taste for seasonings and adjust as needed. If the soup is too thick add more broth as needed.
  6. Divide the soup between bowls and top with reserved squash wedges and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Notes

*The skin of the delicata squash is edible and when you puree the soup it blends right in *This recipe is lightly adapted from epicures. *Use this recipe as a guide and adjust measurements and ingredients as necessary


Leave a Reply

13 thoughts on “Ginger-Miso Squash & Bok Choy Soup

  1. Frank says:

    love squash me and mom farming for over 30 years and she cooked squash when she was 13 years old she said you are what you eat cio cio frank the farmer

  2. FrozenFoodie says:

    Yum! Great recipe. Thank you

  3. Suzanne Bailey says:

    This looks delicious! Can’t wait to make it on a cold evening.

  4. Laura says:

    I was so happy to come across this recipe, as I had baby bok choy and delicata squash that I needed to use. The soup was delicious–such a great combination of flavors!

    1. Andrea says:

      yay! I’m so happy to hear!!

  5. Mary says:

    Outstanding.

    1. Andrea says:

      So happy to hear!

  6. Karen says:

    This was absolutely delicious. Just nit picking because it’s obvious, but the recipe doesn’t say when to put the chicken in the soup. Unless I missed it? What a fabulous mix of flavors, textures and colors!

    1. Andrea says:

      I’m so happy to hear!! And THANK YOU for catching the chicken. I just updated the recipe. Happy soup season!!

  7. Joan says:

    This is a fantastic recipe! Can’t wait to make another batch this weekend.

    1. Andrea says:

      I’m so happy to hear!!

  8. Grace says:

    Cool recipe. If replacing with tofo- what’s a good way to prepare it?

    1. Andrea says:

      Hi there. I have not prepared this with tofu before so I’m not quite sure. Maybe sauté it before adding it? Let me know if that works!

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