Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Still soup season: Butternut squash and ginger

Recipes: Butternut squash soup


It's January (Happy New Year to you!) and, while it's no longer raining as much as we wish it would, the evenings are cold. Soup still tastes really good, so I'm taking this opportunity to include another of my favorite winter recipes - butternut squash soup with ginger.

The story of this soup takes us halfway around the world, to Australia and back. I traveled there with my family years ago, and while staying in Manly Beach outside Sydney, I tasted a wonderful soup called Pumpkin Soup in a small local restaurant. I begged the chef to give me the recipe, which was actually made with butternut squash rather than what we would call pumpkin, and he finally did. Or so I thought. When I got home I made the recipe several times, but it never tasted quite as good as I remembered it did in Manly Beach. Something was missing. Something important. Then one day I was looking through a magazine and saw a recipe for butternut squash soup. It contained an apple. I knew right away that was what was missing - a hint of sweet, a hint of tart. I added an apple to the recipe that chef in Australia had given me and there it was. Perfection. Never give up!



Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger


Note that you must bake the squash for 1 hour before making the soup. This can be done even a day or so in advance, and then you can cover the whole squash and refrigerate it for future last-minute use.
  • 1 small to medium butternut squash, cut in half, seeded, and baked cut side down at 375 F for 1 hour. Scrape the soft flesh out from the skin with a large spoon to add it to the soup. Discard the skin.
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose (or gluten-free) flour
  • 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth (canned or home made)
  • 1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and chopped. I use a MacIntosh or a Pink Lady or a Granny Smith; any good-tasting sweet-tart apple will do.
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup half-and-half or heavy cream
  • freshly grated ginger root

Saute the onion and garlic in the butter in a medium soup pot. Add the flour, stirring until smooth. Cook, stirring, one minute. Add the broth and bring to a boil, stirring. Add all remaining ingredients except cream and ginger and simmer 10 minutes.

Let cool slightly, then puree in a food processor or with an immersion blender until smooth. Return to the pot if necessary, add cream and ginger, and reheat. Serve with more grated ginger, according to your taste.

This soup freezes well if you freeze it prior to adding the cream.

This soup is gluten-free if you use gluten-free flour mix instead of flour and is vegetarian if you use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.






No comments:

Post a Comment