Recipe + Vintage Apron: Butternut Squash Soup Deux

Autumn is one of my favorite seasons: the abundance of food, the colors and the smells make my senses dance. Butternut squash soup is one of my Autumn staples.  It is packed full of nutrients and uses seasonal and local produce.

I noticed that Twill made a similar soup last week. Two soups, two cities, two aprons, one main ingredient! How great lovely minds think alike!

This recipe is so simple, perfect for a lazy Sunday.  Today this soup was especially apropos, being that it is Halloween!

***A note about my cooking. First of all, soups to me, are a lot about what I have on hand, or mixing interesting combinations. So I hardly ever measure things out, if I have more carrots, I use more, if I am feeling spicy I will amp up the ginger or cayenne. So although I have a list of ingredients, I hope this doesn't limit you. Second, this soup is so flavorful, that I don't use any vegetable stock, just water.  I am a vegetarian, so I of course do not use animal stock, but feel free to use what you like. 
 Using water also cuts down on the sodium.

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
10 carrots
1 small apple
1 red pepper
fresh ginger root
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
curry powder
cayenne pepper 
sea salt
salty cheese
cashew nuts
water


First, I wash and chop all the ingredients, the squash is rather tough, using a really sharp knife helps. I love when you cut into the squash and the moisture starts to bead up on the surface. Beautiful! Today, I only had a very large apple on hand, so I used about 1/4 of it. I don't bother peeling it, because it softens in the boil. I love ginger so I used a lot, but my suggestion if you are unfamiliar with the strength of this root, is to just chop up about 2 quarter sized chunks.

Once everything is chopped, I throw in a drizzle of olive oil into a large soup pot and lightly saute the garlic. I always buy a big head of garlic and then mince it and put it in a glass jar for later use, this way it saves me time and my hands don't smell like garlic every time I need some. Then add in all the ingredients, water to just about cover all the produce, add some curry and cayenne (not too much, you can always add more later). Then let simmer until the carrots are tender enough to stick a fork through them with ease.

Once everything is tender, add a little salt, and blend it, I love my immersion blender for soups.

This soup looks, smells, and tastes like autumn, serve hot with crumbled salty cheese and cashews. I used feta because I had it on hand, but I also like cotija.  Enjoy!

-Ladybird

Recipe+Vintage Apron: Butternut Squash Soup

While at the farmer's market, I found some lovely butternut squash and thought a nice roasted vegetable soup would be delightful. I took the recipe from the blog "A Bushel of What?" It is all about how the author uses the items she gets in her CSA each week. I love it, seasonal, local, creative, and delicious! 

Roasted Butternut Squash and Garlic Soup

This recipe serves 4-6 with plenty of leftovers.

You'll Need:

• Olive oil
• 4lbs butternut squash, quartered and seeded
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled (or less if you want a more subtle flavor)
• 2-3 cups chicken broth ( I like Pacific Natural Goods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth)
• 1/2 cup milk or half and half (optional)
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Pinch of herbs de Provence, or rosemary and sage.
• Salt and Pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place squash, cut side down, in a large glass baking dish (or two) coated with olive oil. Place garlic cloves under the hollow area of the seeded squash, so as not to burn the garlic. Pierce the skins of the squash with a fork.

Bake until squash is tender, skin is wrinkled, and the edges of the squash start looking caramelized, approximately 1 hour. Remove pan from oven and let squash and garlic cool completely.

Once cool, remove skin from squash with a knife, discarding as little flesh as possible. Place squash flesh and garlic in a medium pot. Add 2 cups of chicken broth, a pinch each of nutmeg and herbs, and puree with an immersion blender until soup is smooth. If you do not have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender and work with the broth, squash and garlic in batches and then transfer the blended soup to your pot.

Heat soup on low burner and add 1/2 cup of milk (optional), stirring to combine. Allow soup to heat through, stirring occasionally. Adjust soup to your taste, adding more broth to thin, or more herbs. However, the flavor of the garlic and squash should prevail!

It's up to you how smooth and thick you like your soup. I prefer this soup to be almost uniformly smooth and on the thicker side, but not so thick that it reminds me of baby food. If I don't have milk in the fridge, I skip it altogether. Let your soup heat up completely prior to adjusting your flavors with herbs and the salt and pepper, as the flavors need time to meld in the pot...and speaking from experience, you can over season this soup. Be patient, and taste often!

-Twill