Butternut Squash Soup

Soup is not a meal (unless it’s real Ramen or Pho) so let’s just get that out in the open right now.  Nonetheless, this butternut squash soup came out so absurdly well that I would consider eating it as a light meal (or a hefty snack) with some toasted bread. I don’t know what made me consider trying to make butternut squash soup, but I saw the squash in the supermarket and I couldn’t resist buying it.  I’m glad I tried though because the result was this thick, rich, taste of fall in a soup bowl. The crazy thing about this soup is that it can be savory or sweet depending on how you like it. You just need to adjust the spices accordingly.  You can even make individual servings and have people season their own bowl rather than making the whole pot just one way.

Makes 7-8 Cups at about 710 calories for the whole pot or 101 calories per cup.

Ingredients:

• 2.5 pounds butternut squash – peeled, de-seeded, and chopped (about 440 cal.)
• 2 cups of low fat chicken / vegetable broth (about 10 cal.)
• 2 cups of water
• 2 small/medium shallots diced (about 20 cal.)
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil (about 40 cal.)
• 2 or 3 tablespoons of butter (about 200 – 300 cal.)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• Optional: 1 tsp nutmeg (or to taste)
• Optional: cinnamon to taste (I didn’t use any, but it’s good!)

Equipment:

• Heavy bottomed soup pot
• Wooden spoon
• Measuring cup
• Teaspoon measurement
• Cutting board
• Knife
• Immersion Blender (recommended) or Food Processor

Directions:

1. Peel the squash with a knife or a peeler, then cut it in half length-wise before removing the seeds inside.
   Note: I will admit that I just bought pre-peeled and seeded squash to save time.
   
2. Chop up the squash roughly using a good knife. I had to use a larger, heavier knife because the squash was a little hard to cut through.
3. Cut off the ends of the shallots, peel, and dice roughly into small pieces.
4. In the pot put a teaspoon of vegetable oil and set the heat to medium.
   
5. When the oil starts to get hot, toss in the shallots and mix them quickly with the oil until they start to get a little color. Keep mixing them so that they don’t get stuck to the bottom of the pot or burned.
6. After mixing the shallots add 2 cups of chicken broth to de-glaze the bottom of the pot.
   
7. Add in the squash pieces.
8. Add in two more cups of water or enough so that the squash is basically just covered.
   
9. Add in 2 tablespoons of butter (you can add more later if you want a richer soup)
10. Bring the ingredients to a boil and then lower the temperature to low to let the ingredients simmer for 30 min. or until you can squash the squash (see what I did there?) easily with a spoon/fork.
11. After 30 min. turn off the heat and remove the pot from the hot stove to let it stand for five minutes.
12. Use a hand blender to carefully puree the soup ingredients while still hot and watch out for splash back.
    Note: If you don’t have a hand blender, then put the squash pieces into a food processor and blend them until well pureed before returning the squash to the soup.
    
13. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, mix/blend the soup, and taste it.  If you want some more salt, try another teaspoon.  Don’t add too much too soon or you’ll end up with salty soup. At this point you have the base of the soup and people can modify the flavor as they like.  If you want the whole pot a certain way though then read on.

Serving Suggestions:

• Optional (this is what I went with for the whole pot): Add 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg to the soup and blend/mix well. Let sit for 5 minutes and then taste. If you want more nutmeg, try another 1/2 teaspoon.  A little goes a long way, so just keep tasting until you get it right.
  Note: You can also just add a dash of nutmeg to a single serving if you want to season each serving separately.
  
• Optional: In addition to nutmeg, or on it’s own, you can also try cinnamon. Try a 1/2 teaspoon first and then add from there, or just add a dash to your single serving to change up the flavor.
  Note: The cinnamon does make the soup taste a bit more dessert like.
• Optional: Add a teaspoon or more of sour cream (about 10 cal. per teaspoon) and mix into the soup for an entirely different flavor.
• Optional: Try adding some pepper for a more savory version of the soup.
• Optional: Try it with brown sugar for a more dessert style. Just make sure that the soup is hot when you do.
• Any of the above combinations above work well together too, so you don’t have to try just one. Mix and match! Also try it with some toasted bread.