To be perfectly frank I did not grow up eating butternut squash or even pumpkins for that matter. They hadn’t yet made their appearance in Greece during my teenage years. The closest thing we used to make was a sweet pie with pumpkin, more like a dessert. But food and cooking, at least for me, is all about learning, experimenting and evolution. I have grown to love butternut squash soup among other recipes that fall into the squash/pumpkin family.
Butternut squash tastes great not only as a soup, but also spiced up and roasted with olive oil. It makes a wonderful filling in pies and ravioli. Yum! So since it’s that time of the year again, I decided to make butternut squash soup. With a secret ingredient added by Rob!
Making the soup
I like to pair butternut squash with something peppery and earthy to balance out the sweetness. This time I chose peppers! To get things started, cut the squash in two crosswise so you can peel it easier. So go ahead and peel it. Thereafter, cut it up in big chunks. Put aside.
The next thing to do is to chop up the peppers in big chunks and slice those onions. Lastly, you crush the garlic. I love my garlic press for this job. Easy!
Put a big pot or dutch oven over medium fire and drizzle in some olive oil. Saute garlic, onions for 2 mins. Remove and put aside. Now saute the peppers for like 5 mins. You want them to brown up a little to add a bit of smokiness to your soup. If you don’t have the time to spare just saute all above mentioned ingredients together.
Put everything aside and again drizzle the dutch oven with some olive oil. Add the squash and saute for about 10 mins until is slightly browned. Add a cup of the chicken broth and two cups of water and cook for about 20-25 mins. The cooking is done when the consistency of the squash is soft and can easily be mashed. Combine all the ingredients and mash them together adding some of the water to ease the process. The last thing to do is put all the mashed pulp back in the pot. At this point you add 2 more cups of chicken and more water in order to reach the consistency you prefer. I like my soup to be a bit thick, so I used in total 3 cups of stock and 4 cups of water.
Give everything a stir and season with salt and pepper. Rob stepped in and added his secret ingredient… cinnamon!! Which really made a difference I have to say:)
So just bring to boil and simmer for a few mins. You are done my friends! Ready to curl up and enjoy some goodness.
Butternut Squash Soup
It’s that time of the year again!! Pumpkin time! Halloween is almost here, Thanksgiving around the corner. All a big built up for Christmas!! I love Christmas. But for the time lets just enjoy this absolutely beautiful thick and rich butternut squash soup. Dig in!
- 2 big butternut squash or pumpkin, cut in big pieces (about 1300 g / 2.8 lbs)
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 peppers, cut in big chunks
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 good drizzles of extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 4 cups water
- salt and pepper
- pinch cinnamon
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Cut the squash in two crosswise so you can peel it easier. So go ahead and peel it. Thereafter, cut it up in big chunks. Put aside.
Chop up the peppers in big chunks and slice those onions. Lastly, you crush the garlic.
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Put a big pot or dutch oven over medium fire and drizzle in some olive oil. Saute garlic, onions for 2 mins. Remove and put aside.
Saute the peppers for like 5 mins until lightly browned. Put everything aside.
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Saute the squash for about 10 mins until is slightly browned. Add a cup of the chicken broth and two cups of water and cook for about 20-25 mins. The cooking is done when the consistency of the squash is soft and can easily be mashed.
Combine all the ingredients and mash them together adding some of the water to ease the process.
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Lastly, put all the mashed pulp back in the pot and add 2 more cups of chicken and more water in order to reach the consistency you prefer.
Give everything a stir and season with salt and pepper and cinamon and simmer for a few mins. You are done!
