Greetings Blogospherites!
Yesterday was miserable. There's just no sugar coating it. It started raining late Thursday night and did not stop for about 36 hours. Really, it was constant rain all day long. Monsoon-like. It was cold, the roads were flooded and people were in a crappy mood.
There's really only one thing to do when you have that icky, cold-to-the-bone feeling. Eat soup! This squash soup is really simple to make and so smooth and comforting. You can use any kind of hard squash you like except maybe spaghetti squash. I'm only assuming that because it's supposed to look like spaghetti, right? I've actually never had it. Anyway, I used acorn, butternut and delicata (sometimes called sweet potato squash). If you've only got butternut, so be it! You'll want about 3-5 depending on the size and how much soup you want to make. This recipe does not have to be exact. Just relax. It will come out fine no matter what.
The stripey ones are the delicata. All the squash were on the small side so I used more.
You simply cut each squash in half and they are ready to roast. Here's a hint. Don't even bother scraping out all the seeds. You can just roast them as is and scoop them out after they are cooked. It's so much easier that way. If roasting them with the seeds and all bugs you for some reason, please go ahead and take 'em out. I'm not spying on you in your kitchen or anything. Or am I....Then, grab one or two sheet pans and line them with foil. Pour some olive oil (a few tablespoons) and smear it all over the foil. Place the squash halves cut side down on the pans and stick them in the oven.
For the garlic, wrap the cloves in a piece of foil and throw them in for the last 15 minutes of roasting. You don't need to peel them, cut them or do anything to them. Just roast those bad boys.
After about 45 minutes you'll want to check on your squash babies. Give them a good poke. They should be pretty soft and mushy. If they aren't, put them in longer. After they are sufficiently dead, let the squash cool down a bit and scrape out the seeds. Then scoop out the squash flesh (ewwww) and throw it into a soup pot.
mmmm... fleshy.
Peel and squeeze your garlic cloves out of their skins and throw them in too. Start adding in your stock. I use this:
No, chicken, no!
It's a great broth that brings a lot of flavor to a dish without any animals being harmed in the process. You can certainly use chicken broth if you wish. I'm planning to bring some to my semi-vegetarian friend, Christina, today, so I went veggie. Whatever floats your boat.Turn your stove to medium and wait for the bubbling to begin. After things start to percolate and you've stirred it all together, you'll want to grab this guy:
Please excuse my claw-like hand.
If you don't have one, don't freak out. You can use a regular blender or probably a food processor. Just be careful when blending up hot liquids. I've learned that one the hard way. So blend it all up.
I ♥ my stick blender!
If it's looking too thick, add more stock. If you run out of stock, just add water. You'll want it a tad on the thick side because you're about to pull out the big guns.
Note: If you don't live in upstate NY then you won't know what a Stewart's Shop is and how it's one of our most abundant natural resources. If you do live in upstate NY, you can't not know what a Stewart's Shop is. But that's a whole other blog post.
Now you can use heavy cream if you're into that sort of thing but I find that half & half works just fine. Plus, I hate having leftover heavy cream after using it once in a recipe because it invariably just sits there in the fridge taunting me until it goes sour. Half and half, I know we'll use it.
Add your cream to taste. If you like it more austere, hold back. If you want it super creamy, be my guest. I usually add about a cup of half and half after all is said and done. When you've got your soup nice and creamy start adding some seasoning. Salt and pepper are a must. And don't be shy with the salt. The soup is creamy so you need to be bold with your seasoning or it will taste bland. Grind some nutmeg in there. It'll add a ceratin... je ne sais quois. If you would like your soup a little sweeter you can add some honey in, one tablespoon at a time. These squash turned out to be quite sweet so I didn't add any at all this time. You're off the hook, bees.
And there you have it!
It's silky, rich and satisfying. And yes, I did put it in my Aynsley teacup. Why? Because I love that teacup and wanted to take a picture of it. So there.
mmmm... squashy.
Roasted Squash Soup Byeeeeee!
This is an approximate recipe depending on how much you want to make. I usually make a bunch because it freezes well.
3-4 medium/large squash like butternut, sweet dumpling, sweet potato (delicata)
3-4 cloves garlic
olive oil
3-4 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 small container cream or 1/2 & 1/2
1-3 tablespoons honey
1 nutmeg for grating
salt and pepper
Optional garnish: chipotle cream and cilantro, see below.
Heat oven to 375˚. Line sheet pans with foil and coat lightly with olive oil. Cut the squashes in half (be careful!) and lay them face down in the pan. You can scrape the seeds out beforehand, rinse them off and roast them in some oil for s snack. Or if you don't want to bother just leave them in and scrape the seeds out after, which is easier. Bake in the oven for about 45-60 min. until everything's nice and mushy. Wrap the garlic in foil and stick that on the tray for the last 15 minutes. Take everything out and let cool before scraping seeds out.
Scoop squash out of skins and put in stock pot. Unwrap garlic and squeeze out the cloves into pot. Add stock and heat on medium, stirring until just starting to boil. Turn heat down and use stick blender to blend soup until smooth. Add honey and as much cream as you like. Grate the nutmeg in (about 1/4 teaspoon) and add salt & pepper to taste.
Optional garnish: Blend 1 cup of sour cream, one or two chipotles in adobo and salt and pepper to taste. Place dollop on soup and sprinkle with cilantro.
