Butternut Squash and Corn Soup

That crisp fall weather has finally hit us here in NJ and you know what that means: it's time for all those lovely comforting fall foods like squash, apples, roast turkey and of course, soups! Nothing warms a person through and through like a good bowl of soup. Today I was in the mood for just that, so I turned to my trusty friend Tyler Florence for a good soup featuring a favorite fall vegetable, butternut squash.

I just discovered how tasty butternut squash is last year, thanks to this blog. I was looking for a new "fall-ish" recipe and stumbled on a great and simple recipe for pan fried butternut squash. It was heavenly. Butternut squash - where have you been all my life??!!

A few weeks ago, we rekindled our relationship while out at dinner. A local restaurant was serving their version of butternut squash soup and I tried it. It was really good. So good that it's kind of been on my mind ever since. So today is the day I tried out a squash soup on my own - with the help of my favorite food network chef of course!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
adapted from Tyler Florence of Food Network

Ingredients
2 (2 pound) butternut squash, halved lengthwise, seeded
Vegetable oil
1/4 pound amaretti cookies I couldn't find these in my supermarket so I nixed them. I served it with those crostini breads that you buy for bruschetta
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 bunch fresh sage
1 onion, sliced thin
1 11oz can of white shoe-peg corn
1 clove garlic
splash of heavy cream
4 cups chicken stock, either homemade or store-bought -use vegetable stock to make this vegetarian
Pinch of grated nutmeg - I couldn't find nutmeg at the store either so I used cinnamon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch glass baking dish with vegetable oil. Place squash cut side up in prepared dish. Pierce each squash half several times with toothpick or skewer. Bake until squash is tender, about 45 minutes.

While the squash is cooking, use a handheld mixer with the chopping attachment to pulse the cookies until roughly chopped. Set aside.

In a large pot, bring the olive oil up to almost smoking. Quickly cook the sage leaves until crisp. Remove and reserve the sage, and saute the sliced onion and garlic. When the squash is done cooking, using a large spoon, scrape squash into the pot; discard peel. Add 3 1/2 cups chicken stock and nutmeg and puree until smooth, add additional stock to reach desired consistency. The video for the recipe shows Tyler adding a splash of cream to his soup at the end, so I did the same, even though the printed recipe doesn't call for it. After pureeing the squash and onions, I added the corn. Stir soup over medium heat until heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with crushed amaretti; garnish with sage leaves.




Recipe Notes
As noted above, I added corn to this recipe to give it a little extra "something". I also added garlic when I sauteed the onions. Some of the reviews on food network's website said the soup was lacking a little, but I thought it tasted great! It probably would have tasted even better if I wasn't in such a rush to finish it up and remembered to add the cinnamon at the end!

The only thing I wished I had for this recipe was an emulsion blender. After combining the squash, onions, garlic and broth, I had to scoop it out into my regular blender to puree. That was a real pain, since the blender could not hold the entire contents of the stock pot. I ended up blending two batches and then combining them to reheat. Well, Christmas is coming soon, right? Maybe Santa will put an emulsion blender under the tree!!

Pasta Pan-Fried with Butternut Squash

I was looking through a bunch of blogs I subscribe to the other day for a good seasonal recipe. I saw this one on Liz's Cooking Blog and had to try it.

Pasta Pan-Fried with Butternut Squash, Sage and Pine Nuts

adapted from Liz's Cooking Blog, originally from The Kitchn

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut squash

1 small sweet onion, peeled and diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

Olive Oil

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup fresh sage leaves

1 pound farfalle pasta

3/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

4 ounces high quality Parmesean, shredded or shaved

Directions:

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the butternut squash in half and scoop out the strings and seeds from the middle cavity. Flip the squash halves upside down and peel them. Cut into 1 inch cubes. Toss with onion, garlic, a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper. Mince about half of the sage and also toss with the squash.

Spread the squash mixture in a thin layer on a baking sheet and roast for 40 minutes - until squash is soft.

Heat salted pasta water to boiling and cook the pasta until al dente. Drain and set aside. As the squash finishes roasting, heat about two tablespoons of olive oil in a large high sided saute pan. The oil is ready when it pops and sputters, but do not let it start smoking. Drop in the rest of the sage leaves and fry for about 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and salt lightly. Crush with the back of a spoon.

Add half the pasta to the pan, along with half the roasted squash mixture. Crumble in half the sage. Cook, stirring frequently, for five minutes or until the pasta is heated through and getting crispy on the edges. Add the pine nuts and cook for another minute. Stir in half the cheese and serve.

Repeat the final step with the remaining ingredients. If desired, you can chill the other half and pan-fry it the following night.

Servings: About 6

Modifications:

1. I used dried sage because I couldn't find fresh when I was shopping.

Review:

This was really good. I usually get a little squeamish when I make a dish without any meat, but this turned out really well. As far as meals with squash go, I would make this again before the Southwest Spaghetti Squash I made last week. The butternut squash and pine nuts really mixed well together. I would definitely make this again.