Hearty Kabocha Squash Soup

This hearty kabocha squash soup is a pretty nice alternative to having chicken for dinner again. I'm not a vegetarian, so you can trust me, it's good even though it doesn't have meat in it. Not being a vegetarian, I used chicken stock. Feel free to substitute vegetable stock if you wish. I was inspired by other squash soup recipies, but wanted to use a kabocha squash.

• Ready In: 1 hr 50 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1  kabocha squash
• 2 (14 ounce) cans  chicken stock
• 1⁄4 cup white wine
• 6  garlic cloves
• 1⁄2 cup oatmeal
• 1  onion
• 1  teaspoon rock salt
• 10  basil leaves

Directions

1. Get a kabocha squash. You'll be using the skin of the squash, so start by washing the squash under water. Cut the squash in half. The skin is quite hard, so you need to be very careful. Clean out the seeds, and place the squash, cut halves down, on a baking pan. Bake for 1 hour at 350°F Remove from the oven and set aside.
2. Dice up the onion and garlic cloves. Get out a pressure cooker and add a splash of olive oil. Lightly brown the onion and garlic. Pour in two cans of chicken (or vegetable) stock and 1/4 cup white wine. Check out that kabocha squash you took out of the oven earlier. You will be adding in the entire squash, skin and all, but not the hard little stem at the top of the squash. The squash will be very soft, and the skin will tear easily.Discard that hard stem at the top of the squash. Add the squash to the pressure cooker, and everything else on the ingredient list.
3. Seal up the pressure cooker and cook at pressure for 8 minutes. Cool the pressure cooker using the cold water release method. Open the lid of the pressure cooker, and use an immersion blender (a "stick blender") and puree the soup to a smooth consistency. Serve hot.