Butternut Squash Soup

At the moment I have an over abundance of butternut squash.  I didn't grow it but it's so cheap in the stores once fall hits that I stock up since it lasts so long in a cool, dry place.  Previously I have posted recipes for Butternut Squash Pasta, Butternut Squash Risotto, and Roasted Veggies including Butternut Squash.  I do love me some butternut!  It's a very versatile and pretty darn easy to worth with veg.

Case in point, this soup is about as simple as it gets and it's all kinds of yum!   In a big pot heat up 2 Tablespoons of olive oil (by now you probably know I'm an extra virgin kind of gal.  What can I say, my Catholic upbringing keeps a soft spot in my heart for any virgin!).  Add one small onion chopped or as I used here, half of a large onion.  I strictly use whatever sweet onion is in season and they tend to be larger than your average boiling onion.  Add about a teaspoon of salt.  If you're going to used canned/boxed broth, keep your salting to a minimum since those tend to contain a lot of salt.  And a few grinds of pepper.

You just want to sweat the onions and get them soft.  Minimal to no browning so keep the temperature on the burner low.  

Peel and chop one medium sized butternut squash.

Medium dice is just fine.  It doesn't really matter because in the end they will be blended into a puree anyway.  Talk lightly again, and pepper too if desired.  Saute the squash with the onions for a few minutes, not long.  You just want to get the cooking process going.  At this point you can add a few grinds of nutmeg to the squash if desired.  Add four to 5 cups of broth.  Now, you can use homemade stock/broth (ideal) if you have it, or you can use canned or boxed broth.  My person fave is Kitchen Basics.  It's lower in salt than most and if you want you can get it completely unsalted.  It has a great flavor and it's made right here in Northeast Ohio.

I used one carton of Kitchen Basics Chicken Stock because I completely forgot I had my own homemade vegetable stock in the freezer.  Doh!   And I added an extra cup of water.  The carton is four cups.   Simmer the stock/squash mixture until the squash is fork tender.  This takes about 20 minutes or so.  Just insert a fork or knife into a piece of squash and if the knife goes in easy and slides right out, you're good.  Hmmm that sounds dirty. ;)

Turn the eat off and then take our your handy dandy immersion blender and blend that soup up into a puree! Immersion blenders are easy peasy to use, but if you don't have one you can use a food processor or you can use a regular blender.  Just be very careful and do it in small amounts because the hot soup will splatter.  

Once it was done I added some finely chopped sage, not a lot, sage is a very strong flavor but it goes very well with butternut squash.  Truth be told I probably would have added it before it was pureed if I had it, but I didn't so I added it after.  I liked it this way very much and liked seeing the specs of green in all the orange.  

This soup is so tasty and so easy to make.  All totaled, it took about 40 minutes to make, if that.  The hardest part is peeling the butternut.  There is no butter, no cream and a minimum of oil.  All in all, not too shabby!  

Mangia!

Butternut oh Butternut, Where For Art Thou Butternut

With the possibility of another demo at the Copley Creekside Farmer's Market, I needed to come up with something fall in flavor.  After all, my demo was set for Oct. 10 (unfortunately I have since had to cancel, but for a very good reason).  So I decided I would try my hand at a butternut squash pasta sauce.  I'd actually never heard of such a thing until I saw a jar of it in the grocery store.  And loving butternut squash as I do, I had to try and make this.

It seems easy enough really, take a butternut squash and cut it in half.  Scoop out the seeds and then place it cut side down in a roasting pan with about 3/4 cup to 1 cup of water and roast at 350 for about 40-45 minutes.  My thinking was that I would roast it and then puree it and add whatever else to it after that for flavoring.  And while the squash is roasting, I threw in a few shallots to roast as well.  Two medium sized shallots was perfect.  I do these like I do garlic... cut off the top, place them in aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil.  Roast for 40 minutes or so, or until nice and soft.  They will squeeze out of the skin just like garlic does.

You can check to make sure it's done by piercing it with a knife.  If the knife goes in and comes out easily and cleanly, you're good to go.  Let the squash cool a little before handling it again and once you are able to touch it without burning yourself, peel off the skin.  Cut it into chunks and then chuck it in a blender with the roasted shallots.  You can use sauteed onions if you don't have shallots.

Now... what to add?  Well add the cooking liquid if there is any left, first.  This is a sauce after all, you don't want it the consistency of baby food.  If there isn't enough liquid left in the pan add a little more water or chicken broth to the sauce.  I would say you want at least 3/4 cup of liquid added to the squash in the blender, total.  From there I added salt, pepper and about 8 fresh sage leaves.   I happen to really love the flavor of butternut and sage and I had sage on hand.  But if you don't, you can use parsley.  I also added about 2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil just for kicks and half a cup of grated Parmesan cheese and then let the blender rip on puree until it was all blended and smooth.

After my linguine was done cooking, I strained it and then put the squash sauce in the pasta pan to heat back up a little and then added the pasta, cooking them together for about 5 minutes tops.

 

It turned out quite nicely.  It had a creamy richness without adding any cream at all.  In fact, aside from the added cheese, this is actually a pretty healthy recipe... no cream, no butter.  I think the only thing I would do differently when making this again is add more sage.  It kind of got lost in the sauce.  This one butternut squash sauce recipe was enough for a pound of pasta.   Top with extra chopped sage if you like and some grated Parmesan.

If you make it, let me know how you like it!  

Mangia!

Roast Roast Baby

I'm often faced with dinner dilemma. What to make? Who won't like it? Don't put in garlic (mom can't stand the stuff-I know I know...she's a freak!). Will Dad eat it? Well unless I'm making meatloaf, pot roast, or some other kind of homey comfort food, Dad probably won't like it and deem it "foreign." So generally if I'm going to make something out of his norm, I make sure he has something leftover or is going out. I've also occasionally roasted a few heads of garlic to have on hand so that I can just put a few on mine and Nick's dinners. Today was one of those days Mmmm garlic.

So, with stuffed peppers in the fridge, I decided to roast.... roast it all! Italian sausage, butternut squash, yukon gold potatoes, garlic and onions. After it was done, I thought you know...Dad probably would have eaten it, but it's better not to ever think that, trust me!

This is a dish that couldn't be more simple and the finished product is delicious! We very much love the butternut squash and this is exactly the time of year for it. My next fave would be the Japanese Kabocha squash but they are very expensive and very hard to find. Amazing flavor though. I like acorn squash and delicata, but they don't have that sweetness that butternut has. And when you roast it in the oven... Oh.My.God. It's crazy good.

So I had the sausage in mind. Sausage and potatoes are good, sure. OK, toss in some onions. WAIT! There's a butternut squash on the onion rack! Now we're talking. This dish just went up a few levels. With the sausage in the oven, I peeled and chopped the potatoes and the butternut squash and then tossed them with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. Put them on a cookie tray and slid them in the oven. Then I sliced some onions, tossed them with olive oil and put them in the oven. And then cut the tops off two heads of garlic, drizzled with olive oil, wrapped them in foil and put them in the oven. Everything would roast individually and then be tossed together at the end. It probably sounds oily, but it wasn't, not at all. It's a festival of roasted Fall goodness.