A few days ago, temps hit single digits. Last night it rained. Current temp is in the low 40s—it was fairly foggy earlier but that’s burning off. For relative definitions of “burning.”

IOW, a dreary autumn morning in mid-December.

Blueberry pancakes did brighten things up.

Thinking there may be another batch of soup in the works later. Butternut squash-red lentil, which unfortunately will not make a dent in the Rancho Gordo bean backlog. But it’s a favorite, and since it’s curried I decided to try one of the curry pastes I excavated from the cupboard. Now I’m hunting around online to see which pastes are used where. I have red, green, panang, and massaman—I decided on the panang paste because traditionally it contains ground roasted peanuts and adds a nutty flavor that I think would work well with the soup.

Problem is, the stuff I have doesn’t contain peanuts—I read that they keep it out because allergies.

I do have a jar of roasted unsalted peanuts, so I may be doing some grinding later. Based on this recipe and the fact that the can of paste is 4oz/half a cup, I will add 25 grams of ground peanuts.

(Gentle Reader—I ground those peanuts and made that soup)

Verdict: good wintertime soup. I halved the two small squashes and roasted them first to get a little caramelization going. The panang curry providing just enough heat. Before serving, I added some herbed goat cheese for creaminess. It was a good call.