Rosemary-scented Butternut Squash Soup

What would be better than a warm bowl of soup in winter?

Butternut squash is such an amazing winter ingredient. It is sweet and nutty. You can make savory dish or dessert. You can make soup or sauce. You can grill it, roast it, or puree it. Yes - butternut squash is very versatile ingredient you can use pretty much in any kind of winter dish.

The following recipe is for a very simple soup, but with very deep flavor. The tasty main ingredient, which is butternut squash in this recipe, is important but without a good stock, it is impossible to make a deep flavor of the soup. I strongly recommend you to make your own stock (please see white chicken stock recipe that I posted), but if you don't have homemade stock ready for this recipe, please use store bought "low sodium" chicken stock or broth.

Oh, also, you can make this soup little bit dense (use less chicken stock or reduce more), and use it as sauce for seared scallops - in that case, you might replace rosemary with thyme.


Rosemary-scented
Butternut Squash Soup
(Yield: 4 servings / Cooking time: 1 hour)

Ingredients:
+ 600g butternut squash, peeled and seeded
+ ~2 cups water
+ 1.5 cups home made chicken stock*
+ 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
+ pinch of ground nutmeg
+ one sprig of rosemary
+ salt
+ (optional) 1 Tbsp maple syrup
+ (optional) 2 Tbsp crème fraîche

* Homemade stock is the best. Honestly, I don't like any chicken stock brands sold in stores. Please make your own stock and freeze it so you can use it anytime. It is definitely worthwhile to make your own stock.




Procedures:
1. Chop butternut squash into 1" cubes.

2. In a big pot, add chopped butternut squash (spread into single layer if possible), 1 Tbsp of butter, water (little more than half way up the sides of butternut squash, about 2 cups), and a sprig of rosemary. Season with little bit of salt.


3. Cover with cut and center-holed parchment paper lid (called "cartouche"), and simmer for about 20-25 minutes until the butternut squash is thoroughly cooked. This cooking method is one of basic French cooking method called "à l'étuvée" where you cook your vegetable with little bit of water and butter.


After 20-25 minutes, all the liquid should be gone and butternut squash is cooked throughly without any coloring.
After 20-25 minutes, all the liquid should be gone and butternut squash is cooked through without any coloring.



4. While the butternut squash is cooking, heat up the chicken stock.

5. Remove the rosemary sprig and blend the cooked butternut squash until very smooth with 1.5 cups of hot chicken stock.


6. If you want really smooth soup, strain the blended butternut squash soup through a fine strainer or a fine sieve. This step is optional.

7. Return the soup to the pot and add pinch of nutmeg and season with salt. Taste it and if you want it little bit more sweet, add 1 Tbsp of maple syrup. Bring to boil and turn off the heat.

8. Serve while the soup is hot. You can serve the soup with a half Tbsp of crème fraîche, and garnish with tip of rosemary.


Enjoy~