Sunday, November 18, 2007

De-Lish Dish!

I found this soup on epicurious.com. It's a delightful fall-appropriate soup. Be sure to get the Parmisian cheese. It's the perfect topper (I didn't stir it into the soup, as the recipe suggests)! And instead of Sage I used Thyme (dried).

Butternut Squash and White Bean Soup

1 large garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 small butternut squash (1 lb), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (2 cups)
13/4 cups chicken broth (14 fl oz)
2 cups water
1 (16- to 19-oz) can white beans (preferably cannellini), rinsed and drained
2 canned whole tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh sage
1 oz finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1/2 cup) plus additional for serving
1/4 cup hulled green pumpkin seeds (not roasted; optional)


Cook garlic in 1 tablespoon oil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until golden, about 1 minute. Add squash, broth, water, beans, tomatoes, and sage and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until squash is tender, about 20 minutes. Mash some of squash against side of saucepan to thicken soup. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup cheese and salt to taste.

While soup is simmering, cook pumpkin seeds in remaining tablespoon oil in a small skillet over moderately low heat, stirring, until seeds are plump and lightly toasted, 2 to 4 minutes. Season with salt.

Serve soup sprinkled with pumpkin seeds and additional cheese.



Hope you like it!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's so crazy that you posted this! My friend in England gave me this recipe and I've been wanting to try it for a while now! Now I'm torn between your recipe or her's!!!
~Andra

Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

1 large butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into big chunks
2 medium onions, peeled and sliced
6 oz green lentils, washed
1 tblsp Garam Masala

Olive oil
Vegetable oil
Black pepper
Garlic salt
Salt

Preheat the oven to 400F (200C). Place butternut squash on a cookie sheet and drizzle olive oil over the pieces. Grind black pepper over the top and sprinkle with garlic salt. Rub the oil and seasoning all over the chunks until well covered and roast in the oven for about 30 minutes or until tender (when you put a knife in there is little or no resistance).

Place the washed lentils into a saucepan and cover with water so that there is about twice the amount of water to lentils. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Simmer for about 15 minutes, adding a little boiling water if it starts to run dry, until the lentils are tender (place one between your fingers and gently squish it. It should squish easily). Drain.

Whilst the lentils and butternut squash are cooking, heat about 4 tblsps of vegetable oil in a frying pan and gently fry the onions. Allow the onions to fry slowly as you want them to caramelize (turn the sugars in the onions into sweet caramel) not burn. You may need to keep them moving with a spatula to make sure they cook on all sides.

Get a big soup pot and drain the oil from the butternut squash and the onions into the bottom. Add the Garam Masala and heat it gently, until you can smell the fragrant spices. Add the rest of the ingredients and 'wash out' (use a little cold water to rinse the flavors out) the cooking pans into the soup pot. Add about 4 more pints of water. Use a handheld food processor and puree (you can use a ordinary food processor, it just takes longer). Bring to the boil and turn down to a very gentle simmer. Add salt to taste.

Serve with chunks of your favourite bread.

Leslie said...

This sounds good!
Les.