It’s fall. Have you heard? Fall is here. Or perhaps you call it autumn. Perhaps you think summer is more fun, or you like spring better. Those are all fine, just as long as you recognize that fall is the Best Season Ever.
That’s because fall means leaves and pumpkins and scarves and basic girl fun and peak coziness. Fall also means soup. Like good soup that doesn’t come from a package or a can. Soup that makes your home feel like a flannel window seat in a Boston apartment that overlooks the Commons when all the leaves are orange and yellow and also smells like cinnamon somehow. Boston is only perfect in the fall.
But back to the soup. Perhaps you’d like to make such a soup. Perhaps you’d like to turn your home into a Hale & Hearty when they have the good soups and there’s no line and you can have as many samples as you want. If so, I’m here to help.
This Butternut Squash Soup is pretty easy to make. I promise. In fact, it wasn’t until last year that I decided to tackle this slightly phallic vegetable myself. I can’t tell you exactly where the recipe came from, but it is an amalgam of several other recipes I read online — including one from Ina, so you know it’s good. Don’t be afraid of cooking or fire or heat or putting food stuffs together. Honestly, if you can cut and stir and time things out, you can do this. And boy, will it be tasty when you’re done.
Here’s what you’ll need:
1 butternut squash, cleaned and cut into strips (simple how-to here)
1 shallot, chopped
3 garlic cloves, sliced or smashed
1 potato, peeled
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
2 cups baby carrots
4 cups chicken stock
1 tbs thyme
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup creme fraiche
salt and pepper to taste
(This is what it might look like when you lay out your squash and potato for roasting.)
Here’s what you’ll do:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Clean the butternut squash and potato, slicing in strips (check YouTube for instructions).
- Place squash and potato on a cookie sheet (best if you spray it with a non-stick like Pam first) and drizzle with olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste and roast in the oven for 20–25 minutes.
- Turning your attention to the stovetop, add garlic, shallots and olive oil in a dutch oven (any other soup pot will do) and cook until shallots are slightly browned, about 5 minutes.
- Add mushrooms and continue cooking.
- Once mushrooms are cooked, add chicken stock, carrots, and thyme.
- Bring the contents to a boil, then lower to a simmer, keep cooking until carrots are tender.
- Once the squash and potatoes in the oven are fork tender, add them to the simmering stock and let cook another 5 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and let it all cool a bit.
- Using an immersion blender, mash the whole mixture in the pot, careful not to splash/scald yourself. (You could also put this all in a blender, but it’s likely more messy.)
- Serve in a bowl, or a jar, with a dollop of creme fraiche (or yogurt or sour cream or goat cheese or perhaps some vegan variety of any of the above — do you here).
- Enjoy the crap out of it. Especially the leftovers.
(A jar is the optimal home → work soup vessel.)
If you need help, tweet me. I’ll do my best Barefoot Contessa impression for you. Then I’ll try to help.
