Justin: The Vegetarian

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup:

The MetamoRphosis

I have a confession to make. I'm not proud it but it is what it is and I feel I must be perfectly honest about the origins of this post. When I set out to do this, it was supposed to be a recipe for a "roasted butternut squash mash". 

Here's the story in a nutshell.  A few weeks back I made a butternut squash soup. While it was good, my wife both agreed it lacked that certain "jue nue say qwa" . Oh, and too much pepper! But like I said, it was decent and it didn't go to waste. 

Of all the recipes I reviewed, I liked the idea of roasting the squash as opposed to the peeled, chopped and boiled version. So that's what I did and it was amazing right out of the oven. Even before it ever made it to a state of soup-dom. So I thought to myself, if I just mashed this, it would make a fantastic side. But that was for another day. Today was to be that day. I figured I'd roast the squash just like I did for the soup and kinda do like I'd do if I was making mashed potatoes. It turned out okay. But again, lacking the "je ne sais quoi" (that's the correct spelling, folks). It was a tad lumpy and stringy. Probably could have used a food mill but I don't have one, so that shot that idea. I know! Food processor. Pulsed it a few times until it was smoother but now it was too thin. Definitely not post-worthy. 

So then I thought I'd just scrap the whole blog post until next week. But, from the smoky rubble of failure, emerged a daffodil of an idea (per my search of Google, the daffodil is supposed to represent hope). Poetic, huh? So I tossed the lot of it into the Vitamix, added more liquid and, walla, it was a soup to behold (and by the way, it's voila. With a V. Please don't say walla around me again). Boy...I'm in a mood. Calm down Justin. Find your happy place.

So, the story has a happy ending. Actually, a very happy ending. I started out with a solid idea that backfired, went to shizzle and then bounced right back, ultimately making a soup better than the soup I made when I was trying to make soup. Geez, how many times have I seen THAT movie? Life is good. 

Ingredients: 

4-5 pounds of butternut squash - raw (I used one large that was just a cut above 4 pounds)

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

6 gloves of garlic, roughly chopped

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste) (divided)

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup vegetable broth

1 1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh sage

Preparation: 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Line a baking sheet with foil and place your squash on it cut-side up. Melt your butter in the microwave for 45 seconds or just until it's melted. Brush the squash with the butter and pour the remaining butter in the pit where the seeds were, dividing between the two halves. Put the garlic in with the butter. Sprinkle the squash with the pepper and 1/2 tsp of the salt. Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until the squash is fork tender. 

Once done, remove the squash from the oven and pour the butter and garlic that was in the pits of the two halves into a small saucepan. Set the squash aside and allow to cool for 10 minutes or until you can handle it with your hands. To the sauce pan, add the cream, broth and sage and bring to a simmer. Simmer for just a few minutes allowing the flavors to meld a bit.

Scoop the meat of the squash out of the skin and into a blender. Then add the cream mixture and the remaining tsp of salt. Blend until smooth. The squash has probably cooled quite a bit by now so you may have to gently heat the soup a little more in the sauce pan to serve.