Food, glorious food! Hot sausage and mustard!
While we’re in the mood, cold jelly and custard!
Pease pudding and saveloys! What next is the question?
Rich gentlemen have it, boys … In-di-gestion!

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A marriage of musical theater and food. How could I not use this song here? Plus, Oliver is one of my favorite shows. Although I will confess that, until today, I thought the lyrics read “Peas, pudding and saveloy.” What the heck is pease pudding, you ask? Yeah. I had to know, too. (pause for Googling) Per Wikipedia, pease pudding is “a term of British origin regarding a savory pudding dish made of boiled legumes.” And, for the record, a saveloy is “a type of highly seasoned sausage, usually bright red in colour, which is typically available in English fish and chips shops, sometimes fried in batter.”

Refried beans and fried hot dogs. Mmmmmmm. Brits are as whack about food prep as I am. Still, I manage to have a few good meals up my sleeve. Which is disgusting and usually makes a huge mess. So, in the spirit of giving, I thought I’d share one of my recipes here with you. Today. Right now. (Sigh. Eyes Rolling.) Yes … fine. I’ll wait while you go grab a pencil.

ODNT’s Squash Soup

• Winter squash – acorn, butternut, pumpkin, etc. (12 oz – ish)
• 1 baking potato
• 2 cans (14 1/2 oz. each) chicken broth
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ginger
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
• 2 tbsp. maple syrup
• 1/4 c. heavy cream

Halve the squash and potato. Bake face down (it’s more humane) at 350 until very soft. The pain-in-the-ass potato will take longer so plan to remove your more compliant squash (or is it squashes?) a little earlier. I think this process took about an hour but I can’t remember because my neighbor sent over champagne.

Once the vegetables are Gerber quality, start pureeing them in small batches with the chicken broth to make a creamy mash.  A food processor is the ideal tool for this process which is, of course, why I use a blender. (Consequently, my soups, smoothies, hummus and adult freezy drinks all have a similar squashy-banana-with-chick-peas-and-booze flavor.)

Saute onions in olive oil. (Or skip this step like me, since Dave hates onions, and just use onion powder.) Add all other spices. (Put the measuring spoons away, fool. A few generous shakes of each is fine.) Add everything to the veggie mash and heat in a large pot on the stove.

Finally, right before serving, add the maple syrup and heavy cream (the only sin in the pot). I do it that way because it’s what I was told to do years ago. Personally, I eat the soup for days after I cook it and I’ve never died (not even once) from chilling and reheating the cream. But then, I’m a reckless hooligan.

Oh, and enjoy the soup. It’s pretty damned good on a cold fall day.

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For a quick explanation of this link-up, click here. In short, Mel and I will post a picture or video with a writing prompt on the 1st and 15th of every month. You can write your entry in any form. We love creativity. And, with each prompt, we’ll feature a writer from the previous link-up. Which reminds me …

Our esteemed Ketchup With Us Featured Writer for today is …

Wyman Ragg

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