I was so excited to find a recipe (Barefoot in Paris) for butternut squash soup that did not call for curry. This was a good use for the remainder of the large can of pumpkin that I cracked open for the pumpkin roulade. The end result was excellent, and I’ll make it again, but it made an impressive mess of the kitchen. Also, I doubled the cooking time (from 20 minutes to 40) for the butternut squash. In the future, I would add the chicken stock and the butternut squash together and let them simmer for 20 minutes, and then add the pumpkin for the remaining 20 minutes. I don’t know what kind of butternut squash can cook by simmering for 20 minutes, but all that I’ve encountered are as hard as my kitchen counter and take a little longer to soften.
In the end, though, the soup was a hit, and I’m going to use it when we get all those weird squashes and pumpkins from our CSA in the fall.
Also, a note on onions. I have a strong distaste for raw onions (in my food or on your breath), but the sauteed onions that begin most of these soup recipes are essential. They give the soup a flavor that, if eliminated, would leave them flat and lacking. Also, I’m hearing all kinds of news about how good onions and garlic are for our health. I would say that an onion-hater would probably not even detect their presence in a soup like this (especially if sweet yellow onions are used), and they make a huge difference in the end result.
The Contessa-Curessa Project 