Ingredients
- For that soup:
- two tablespoons extra-virgin essential olive oil
- 1/2 cup (1/4-inch) diced onion
- 1/4 cup (1/4-inch) diced celery
- 1/4 cup (1/4-inch) diced carrot
- 1 cinnamon stick
- Ocean salt, preferably grey salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- About 4 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon ground toasted coriander, optional
- 1 1/2 cups Roasted Winter Squash recipe
- 1/2 cup half-and-half, optional
- For everyone:
- 1/4 cup mascarpone cheese, optional
- two tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds, optional
- Roasted Winter Squash:
- About 3 pounds butternut squash (preferably 1 large squash)
- Grey salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- two tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage leaves
- two tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup dark unsulfured molasses
- 2 teaspoons Toasted Spice Rub, recipe follows
- Toasted Spice Rub:
- 1/4 cup fennel seeds
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon peppercorns
- 1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup (1-ounce) pure California chili powder
- two tablespoons kosher salt
- two tablespoons ground cinnamon
Directions
For everyone:
Heat the essential olive oil inside a large saucepan over medium heat until hot. Add some onion, celery. carrot. and cinnamon stick and saute until soft although not brown, about ten minutes. Season with pepper and salt.
Add some chicken stock and also the coriander, if using, and produce to some boil. Simmer for a few minutes. Stir within the squash until smooth, then simmer lightly to allow the tastes meld, about ten minutes. Discard the cinnamon stick.
Puree the soup inside a blender until smooth. (The soup can be created ahead up to now, cooled, covered, and refrigerated for a few days or frozen for around 30 days. It'll thicken because it cools and could need thinning with stock or water when reheating.)
Return the soup towards the pan and reheat lightly. Add some half-and-half, if using. Adjust the seasoning with pepper and salt. Keep warm until service.
For everyone:
Ladle the soup into serving bowls. Garnish evenly, using the cheese and pumpkin seeds. if preferred.
Roasted Winter Squash:
Preheat the oven to 400 levels F. Peel the squash having a vegetable peeler. Halve lengthwise, discard the seeds, then reduce 1-inch dice. Devote a sizable bowl and season with pepper and salt.
Heat the butter inside a medium skillet over medium-high temperature. Once the butter ceases to foam and it has switched an easy brown, pull the pan from the heat and immediately add some sage, sugar, vinegar (stand back so they won't get splattered), molasses and toasted spice rub. Mix well and let simmer over medium-low heat for one to two minutes to meld the tastes.
Pour the vinegar mixture within the squash and toss well, then transfer to some heavy rimmed baking sheet or baking dish big enough to carry the squash in one layer. Devote the oven and roast, tossing at least one time, until very tender and caramelized, about forty-five minutes to at least one hour. Put aside until awesome enough to deal with but nonetheless warm, therefore the fluids are runny.
Employed in batches, if required, transfer the nice and cozy squash and all sorts of cooking fluids to some mixer and process until smooth. Use immediately, refrigerate for approximately five days, or freeze for approximately 2 several weeks.
Serving suggestions: Serve the puree by itself like a side dish for roast chicken, poultry. or pork stir into polenta right before the finish of cooking use like a stuffing for ravioli make right into a soup or use to flavor pastina. Or omit the sage, season with ground cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg to taste, and employ as an alternative for canned pumpkin inside your favorite pumpkin cake recipe.
Variation for Smoky Butternut Squash: Prepare the prepared squash on the baking sheet inside a covered grill with drenched chips to provide a rather smoky taste. Substitute most of the recipes that decision for roasted squash. If cooking kabocha, acorn. or any other difficult-to-peel squash, decline in half, scoop the seeds, and rub the insides and cut edges using the vinegar/molasses mixture. Put on a baking sheet, cut sides up, and roast at 400 levels F until tender. Scoop out and puree.
Yield: a couple of cups puree
Toasted Spice Rub:
Toast the fennel seeds. coriander seeds, and peppercorns in a tiny, heavy pan over medium heat. Once the fennel turns light brown, work rapidly. Switch on the exhaust fan, add some red pepper flakes. and toss, toss, toss, always underneath the fan. Immediately turn the spice mixture out onto a plate to awesome.
Put mixture right into a blender using the chili powder, salt, and cinnamon and blend before the spices are evenly ground. For those who have a little spice mill or perhaps a coffee grinder focused on grinding spices, grind just the fennel, coriander, pepper, and chili flakes. Pour right into a bowl and toss using the remaining ingredients. Keep your spice add a glass jar inside a awesome, dry place, or freeze.
Chef's notes: Toasting freshens spices. releases their oils, and means they are more aromatic, in addition to adding a brand new dimension of flavor.
Taste your chili powder before adding and, if spicy and hot, reduce the quantity. California chilies are nearly sweet, not hot.
Yield: about 1 cup
