Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Ok, so I wanted something new and different for Thanksgiving this year. Little did I know that what I was going to make was the most complex thing ever - mostly because it is really three recipes in one, all from the Food Network.

This soup is based on a recipe for a roasted squash side dish, which in turn uses a custom spice rub. So before you can even think about making the soup, you first have to make the rub, then you have to make the roasted squash, and only then can you make the soup. So, first things first.

Toasted Spice Rub

• 1/4 cup fennel seeds
• 1 Tablespoon coriander seeds
• 1 Tablespoon peppercorns
• 1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup (1-ounce) pure California chili powder
• 2 Ttablespoons kosher salt
• 2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

Directions
Toast the fennel seeds, coriander seeds, and peppercorns in a small, heavy pan over medium heat. When the fennel turns light brown, work quickly. Turn on the exhaust fan, add the red pepper flakes, and toss, toss, toss, always under the fan. Immediately turn the spice mixture out onto a plate to cool.

Put mixture into a blender with the chili powder, salt, and cinnamon and blend until the spices are evenly ground. If you have a small spice mill or a coffee grinder dedicated to grinding spices, grind only the fennel, coriander, pepper, and chili flakes. Pour into a bowl and toss with the remaining ingredients. Keep the spice mix in a glass jar in a cool, dry place, or freeze.

Chef's notes: Toasting freshens spices, releases their oils, and makes them more fragrant, as well as adding a new dimension of flavor.

Taste your chili powder before adding and, if spicy and hot, cut back the amount. California chilies are almost sweet, not hot.

Yield: about 1 cup

Results
This turned out great. I didn't have California chilies, so I just used regular generic chili powder. The mix has a great earthy quality to it, and is surprisingly not at all hot. But I will say the instruction about the exhaust fan is crucial. I just about killed everyone in the room when I was toasting this after I added the red pepper flakes. Also, I recommend getting a dedicated spice mill or small coffee grinder for grinding your spices.

Next up, the squash itself.

Roasted Winter Squash

• About 3 pounds butternut squash (preferably 1 large squash)
• Gray salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage leaves
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup dark unsulfured molasses
• 2 teaspoons Toasted Spice Rub, recipe follows

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Peel the squash with a vegetable peeler. Halve lengthwise, discard the seeds, then cut into 1-inch dice. Place in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Heat the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter ceases to foam and has turned a light brown, pull the pan off the heat and immediately add the sage, sugar, vinegar (stand back so as not to get splattered), molasses and toasted spice rub. Mix well and let simmer over medium-low heat for 1 to 2 minutes to meld the flavors.

Pour the vinegar mixture over the squash and toss well, then transfer to a heavy rimmed baking sheet or baking dish large enough to hold the squash in a single layer. Place in the oven and roast, tossing at least once, until very tender and caramelized, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Set aside until cool enough to handle but still warm, so the liquids are runny.

Working in batches, if necessary, transfer the warm squash and all the cooking liquids to a food processor and process until smooth. Use immediately, refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.

Serving suggestions: Serve the puree on its own as a side dish for roast chicken, turkey, or pork; stir into polenta just before the end of cooking; use as a stuffing for ravioli; make into a soup; or use to flavor pastina. Or omit the sage, season with ground cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg to taste, and use as a substitute for canned pumpkin in your favorite pumpkin pie recipe.

Variation for Smoky Butternut Squash: Cook the prepared squash on a baking sheet in a covered grill with soaked chips to give a slightly smoky taste. Substitute in any of the recipes that call for roasted squash. If cooking kabocha, acorn, or other difficult-to-peel squash, cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and rub the insides and cut edges with the vinegar/molasses mixture. Place on a baking sheet, cut sides up, and roast at 400 degrees F until tender. Scoop out and puree.

Yield: about 2 cups puree

Results
I now know why this is such a popular vegetable. It is 90% consumable; the size of the seed and pulp is tiny compared to the flesh.

I made this as a side dish as well as the base for the soup and I must say I disagree with the puree step when serving as a side dish, I prefer the nuggets. This is a great fall side dish.

And last but not least, the soup.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup (1/4-inch) diced onion
• 1/4 cup (1/4-inch) diced celery
• 1/4 cup (1/4-inch) diced carrot
• 1 cinnamon stick
• Sea salt, preferably gray salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• About 4 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon ground toasted coriander, optional
• 1 1/2 cups Roasted Winter Squash recipe
• 1/2 cup half-and-half, optional

To serve:

• 1/4 cup mascarpone cheese, optional
• 2 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds, optional

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until hot. Add the onion, celery, carrot, and cinnamon stick and saute until soft but not brown, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the chicken stock and the coriander, if using, and bring to a boil. Simmer for several minutes. Stir in the squash until smooth, then simmer gently to let the flavors meld, about 10 minutes. Discard the cinnamon stick.

Puree the soup in a blender until smooth. (The soup can be made ahead to this point, cooled, covered, and refrigerated for several days or frozen for about 1 month. It will thicken as it cools and may need thinning with stock or water when reheating.)

Return the soup to the pan and reheat gently. Add the half-and-half, if using. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Keep warm until service.
To serve:

Ladle the soup into serving bowls. Garnish evenly, with the cheese and pumpkin seeds, if desired.

Results
This soup is extremely savory, and a little goes a long way. The serving suggestion is (as usual) way too large, this easily serves twice as many as it says.

Once again I got to use my new immersion blender, I love that thing.

As is usual, I did make a mistake during this recipe. I did not properly measure the amount of squash when I was adding it to the soup base, and I ended up needing to make more soup base, and I had TONS of soup. Yummy soup, but tons of it.

I left out the coriander in the soup base, I figured the coriander in the rub was plenty, and I also did not have pumpkin seeds, so instead I garnished with a little dusting of the rub on top. I think it turned out quite nice. Since we had this as the first course of our Thanksgiving meal, we had lots of traditional foods to go with it. One thing we discovered is that stuffing makes excellent croutons for this soup, and the soup itself makes a good base for a Thanksgiving chowder if you add turkey and stuffing to it.

Broccoli Potato Soup

So it is raining here in Northern Virginia, and to me rainy weather means soup. Last night's dinner featured a new soup for me - broccoli potato. What makes this soup nice is the freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Once again I got this from cooking.com who in turn got it from Food and Wine magazine.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 3/4 pounds broccoli, thick stems peeled and diced (about 2 cups), tops cut into small florets (about 1 quart)
1 1/2 pounds boiling potatoes (about 5), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
3 cups water
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS
In a large pot, melt the butter over moderately low heat. Add the onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the garlic, broccoli stems, potatoes, broth, water, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are almost tender, about 10 minutes.

In a food processor or blender, pulse the soup to a coarse puree. Return the soup to the pot and bring to a simmer. Add the broccoli florets and simmer until they are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir 1/4 cup of the grated Parmesan into the soup, and serve the soup topped with the remaining cheese.

VARIATION
If you'd prefer a completely smooth soup, add the broccoli florets to the pot after the potatoes have cooked for five minutes, and continue simmering until all of the vegetables are tender, about five minutes more. Puree the soup until smooth. This would also make a great first course for six people.


RESULTS
Ok, so my only mistake this time was the potatoes I used. I chose this soup because all the ingredients are almost always in the house. Except the potatoes I had were a bag of leftover baby potatoes. Don't get me wrong, they tasted fine, but it took forever to peel those tiny things. Note to self: use large potatoes when the recipes calls for peeled potatoes. If my wife hadn't jumped in and helped me peel and dice, we would have been eating at midnight.

I only deviated from the printed recipe above in the amount of garlic - I doubled it as is my wont. We're talking 6 cups of liquid and 3 pounds of pureed vegetables. Two measly cloves isn't going to make a dent in that, so load up! In the future I also might add another savory flavor, maybe roasted chilies or something.

Another reason I chose this recipe is that it gave me an excuse to use my new toy, an immersion blender - or Magic Stick by Cuisinart (who thinks up these names?). This is an insanely cool device, modeled here by guest chef Christopher. If you do use an immersion blender make sure your dice is small enough, no larger than about 1/2 inch cubes. And make sure they are tender, don't want to burn out your motor.

I chose to use the variation as I wanted a completely smooth and creamy soup, but I imagine that it would make a fine soup leaving the florets whole.

Once again, the recommended number of servings is ridiculously small. The recipe as printed says 4 servings, which again is a huge amount of soup. This easily made 8 servings, and the nutritional information below assumes 8 servings.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
8 servings
Calories: 163
Fat. Total: 5g
Carbohydrates, Total: 21g
Cholesterol: 12mg
Sodium: 720mg
Protein: 9g
Fiber: 5g
% Cal. from Fat: 28%
Fat, Saturated: 0g

Weight Watcher Points: 3

Pasta e Fagioli with Sausage

So for my first post I thought I try something that I've had in restaurants and really liked, but with a twist.

I got this recipe from Cooking.com, who in turn got it from Food and Wine magazine. Here is the recipe as originally written.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound mild Italian sausages
• 1 carrot, chopped fine
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 1 rib celery, chopped fine
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 6 cups drained and rinsed canned kidney beans (three 19-ounce cans)
• 2 3/4 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup tubetti or other small macaroni
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS
In a large pot, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over moderate heat. Add the sausages and cook, turning, until browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove. When cool enough to handle, halve the sausages lengthwise and then cut crosswise into slices.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in the pot over moderately low heat. Add the carrot, onion, celery, garlic, and rosemary. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to soften, about 10 minutes.

Puree 4 cups of the beans with 1 1/4cups of the broth in a blender or food processor. Add the puree to the pot along with the remaining1 1/2 cups broth, the whole beans, bay leaf, and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes.

Stir in the pasta. Cook the soup over moderate heat, partially covered, stirring frequently, until the pasta is done, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Stir in the sausage and the pepper. Cook until the sausage is warmed through, about 1 minute.

RESULTS
Recently I had grilled a bunch of Hot Italian sausage, so I used that instead. I always think grilled meats taste better than pan-browned meats, and I prefer a little heat in my Italian sausage. This definitely had that. I also used mini shells, just because, and twice as many. I also doubled the garlic.

This recipe says it serves 4. I don't know who they were cooking for, but these must be 4 really hungry people. One fourth of this pot of soup is HUGE. I think this really serves 6-8.

And the note that it gets thick, they aren't kidding. If you don't eat this right away, or re-heat it later, you will definitely want to add more water or stock as it essentially turns to bean paste. But damn tasty bean paste.

One interesting thing happened while I was preparing this (read: oh shit, grab a towel), was when I was pureeing the beans. I dumped the beans in the food processor and then added the stock. Just as I was about to hit the 'on' button, I noticed that there were large puddles of liquid all over the counter. The stock had leeched its way up under the cuisinart blade and out of the bowl. Nice. Note to self, next time start processing the beans and add the stock through the feeder slowly.

I actually prefered this the next day, flavors have a chance to mingle more. Also, the amount of sausage in this recipe seemed too much. Don't get me wrong, I love sausage, but lets face it, no one really needs to eat 4 oz of sausage at ANY meal. When I do this again, I think I will reduce the sausage and add more water/stock at the beginning.

This is not diet food, but I've seen worse. And if you do cut the amount of sausage down, it really isn't that bad as a meal - which it is.

If you are a Weight Watcher, and if you assume 8 servings this is 10 points. The sausage alone counts for 5 of those 10 points so any reduction in the amount of sausage makes a big difference.