Butternut Squash Soup

Jump to Comments

Music: Pa Pa Power – Dead Man’s Bones

We had Matt and Rosa over for Halloween.  We wanted to make something hearty and harvesty before heading over to 313 Clinton Avenue (thank you Reclaimed Home!) to check out the Halloween Carnival of Carnage.  We look forward to their productions every year.

I love Butternut Squash and come fall I make up ways to use it.  This was a pretty simple way to make a fall soup that’s hearty enough to be its own meal. I used The Big Book of Soups and Stews as a basis, but, you know, I changed a lot of it.  The shallot thing I borrowed from In. Here’s what I did.

What you’ll need:

2 butternut squash, olive oil, 2 tablespoons of butter, 1 yellow onion, 5 cloves of garlic, 4-5 cups of chicken broth, ginger, nutmeg, salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, chives, 1 tablespoon of truffle oil (if you have it), crème fraiche, 2 shallots, and one baguette.

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Half butternut squash and put on baking pan. Remove seeds and put in separate container (save for later). Season with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Put one clove of garlic in the belly of each squash. Bake until soft (at least and hour). Turn oven down to 350 degrees.

• When finished, let cool – you’ll need to be able to handle the squash in order to scoop out the squash pulp (you’ll yield about 4 cups).  Take out 2 cloves of roasted garlic and put aside.
• Meanwhile, while squash is cooling, chop onion, 1 clove of garlic and rosemary. Finely grate ½ teaspoon of fresh ginger.  Remove thyme from stalk. Slice shallots into fine pieces. Chop chives.
• In a large soup pot melt butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic and sauté for 7 minutes until soft.

• Add squash pulp, the 2 cloves of roasted garlic, ginger and 1 cup of chicken stock and let warm.
• Transfer mixture to food processor and blend until smooth. (I used a blender and didn’t work out so well. I think the food processor would be much easier – and won’t make as much a mess).

• Return to pan and add 3 cups of chicken stock, ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg, salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary.  If you like the soup thinner, add the remaining cup of chicken stock. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes to let flavors combine.
• (Optional) While soup is simmering, slice baguette into ¾ inch slices and place on baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper on one side and bake in oven until golden brown. Remove from oven, let cool and rub halves of garlic over olive oiled side of bread.
• (Optional) Place butternut squash seeds on another baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 10 minutes until seeds are toasted and golden brown.

• (Optional) In small sauté pan add 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Heat over low heat and add shallots.  Cook until shallots are brown (watch carefully, they can burn very easily! ). Remove from oil and let rest on paper towel.
• Once soup is completed plate in soup bowl.  Add dollop of crème fraiche and sprinkle some chives over soup. Add butternut squash seeds and serve with garlic baguette slices.

3 Comments

Filed under Brooklyn Places, Butternut Squash, Recipes, Soup, cookbooks