If there was any day for comfort food, today would be top of the list. No need to reiterate the realities of the world today, but I do hope we put restoration over our desire to be right in the coming days. Now more than ever, we need space around the table with the ones we love savoring every moment.

Someone called me out earlier this year for language like the above, calling it “hippie peace and love talk” when what we need is an outward, proactive and potentially even provocative stance. Part of me agrees (those who know me definitely know this to be true and I’m often misidentified as an enneagram 8), and part of me sees the deep value in stepping away to process before reacting. To be frank and possibly a bit controversial, I tend to find myself a bit a-political. Not disinterested, but I’m a 30,000 feet person. I zoom out, and then I zoom out farther, and farther and farther, until I see just how many variables have made the problem I’m looking at and realize there is not one solution, but many, not one leader, but many, and not one path to healing, but a labyrinth. I tend to follow policies and not parties. I put people over progression and over profit. (Or principle, but that’s an evangelical pandoras box I’m not quite ready to open up here.) Regardless of the outcome, I can see, and we all see, how much we’re hurting. How literally divided we are. Yes, we need leadership to model grace, understanding, compassion, and patience. We also need to model those in our every day. Our relationships. Our friendships. Our disagreements. We need to become the people we wish were leading us.

This recipe was inspired by something I saw on Instagram last week and I immediately bought ingredients and started brainstorming. It feels warm and soothing. Having its roots in kabocha squash gives it a richness, but the ginger holds on to a brightness that really pairs well with the celeriac root. It’s a magical pairing and a lovely Fall addition. It could easily be made much more hearty with chicken broth, but as is, it is entirely vegetarian/vegan and I recommend using vegetable stock or broth. I did use about a tablespoon of butter when browning the shallots, but that can easily be omitted or substituted. I hope you find time to make this this week and sit around your own tables with people you value and have conversations to start shaping our world for the better.

Celeriac Kabocha Squash Soup with Fennel, Ginger and Spiced Pepitas

For the soup

1 small kabocha squash, peeled and chopped (about 3 cups)
1 celery root, peeled and chopped (about 2 cups)
1 cup sliced fennel
2-3 shallots, chopped
4 cloves garlic
2 Tbs minced ginger
1 Tbs butter
olive oil
2.5 tsp caraway seed
2.5 tsp cumin seed
2.5 tsp ground cumin
5.5 cups vegetable broth, could go up to 6+
salt and pepper to season
fresh thyme (topping)

For the Pepitas

1/2 cup raw pepitas
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp caraway seed
1-2 tsp coconut sugar
2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Stir all ingredients together. Bake at 325 for about 6-8 minutes. They should be popping!

instructions

First, heat butter and olive oil in a large dutch oven or pot on medium high heat. When warm, add shallots and ginger and begin to brown. Season with salt and pepper. Add fennel, garlic, cumin and caraway seeds, and stir well. When things are beginning to brown, feel free to add a bit of white wine or brandy to loosen up the brown bits. If you don’t have either of those, just use some vegetable broth. Once the fennel is well coated in spices and seasonings and is beginning to brown, add chopped celery root. Toss well and allow to cook about 2-3 minutes. Add in squash, stir well to coat with oil and spices (if you need to add more oil here feel free!).

Then, add in broth 1 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. Once 5.5 cups has been added, add in the ground cumin, stir, cover and bring to a boil. Boil for about 4 minutes, then reduce to a low simmer. Keep pot covered and cook for about 20 minutes or until squash is falling apart and thickening the soup. From here you can blend for desired consistency.

To get a smooth creamy soup, I blended it (hot) in a high powered blender. You can definitely use an immersion blender here, but a vitamix, ninja, or other high power blender will get it super smooth. I blended it in batches, and then added most of the broth at the end.

Once fully blended and smooth, put the soup back in the pot and cook covered on a low heat for another 20 minutes, allowing the flavors to really come together. Stir frequently here to avoid sticking or burning.

For serving, I recommend the spiced pepitas with fresh thyme, olive oil drizzle, and a squeeze of lemon. As always, maldon salt!