Recipe 43: Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

The great thing about soup, it quickly turns into a weeks worth of food for a single person...even a single person foisting some food off on her boyfriend because she has way too much. Some will most likely be frozen, it has to be...but I will not remember there's soup in the freezer until I move, or some freak event reminds me at the oddest moment when this info is of absolutely no use to me, and when I need it, I'll likely have forgotten again. However, I'll be cooking enough soup in this cookbook that I'll be going to my freezer for storage more often.

Now, onto the soup...I have always wondered how to make butternut squash soup, or any other squash soup, you start by cutting the squash into small 3" chunks, versus a big large oblong boat. Place the squash on a baking sheet, rimmed, and drizzle oil, salt and pepper on it. Roast it at 450 degrees for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt butter in pan, add all veggies...onions, carrots, garlic, and herbs-thyme. Cook over medium-high heat for ten minutes.

After 10 minutes, add the brandy. I had to work in faith here, James only had homemade brandy, and he didn't remind me it was peach brandy until after I was done. I reminded him that if I made this at my house, it would be with the blackberry brandy he gave me sometime ago. I think the blackberry brandy could lend a fun flavor for this, but the brandy nearly overpowered the soup anyway. We'll save it for another day. In the future I might consider using half-and-half for creaminess and body instead of brandy.

Cook soup another five minutes...add stock and water... and bring to a boil.
James did insist on adding celery, I don't think this soup needed it. Reduce heat, simmer for 15 minutes, just like most soups. Add roasted squash to the pot and discard the thyme sprigs, if you tossed them in whole. I tossed in just the leaves and discarded the thyme sprigs earlier.

Now comes the fun part, because the squash is still in whatever size chunk you cut it into earlier, and that's not gonna get you pretty yellow orange smooth soup. So, grab a blender, pour the soup in, or immerse it, and make it smooth. I have a regular blender with a pitcher, and worked in batches. I got three batches and three and a half quarts plus dinner portions out of this soup. Way to much for one person to eat by themselves, or two to eat when they other person started another pot of soup that day.

I did feel the brandy overpowered the soup a little bit, maybe I should have cooked it off a bit longer or checked my times more closely. James added sharp cheddar cheese the next day, and said it improved the soup a lot.

I will definitely make this recipe again, but as before, with less brandy, maybe a half cup instead of a whole cup.