D: Steph was craving squash soup; basically we searched all our recipe books to find a Squash Soup recipe, and this is the one we found! The lucky winner! Here’s hoping it’s any good.
Ingredients:##
- 2 small or 1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into ~ 1in cubes
- 5 TBsp EVOO, plus more for frying sage
- 1 TBsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 4 C low-sodium chicken broth
- 16 sage leaves
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 TBsp minced garlic
- 3/4 C heavy cream, plus some for serving
- 6 Prosciutto slices
Required:##
- A medium sized stock pot
Directions:##
Prosciutto Crisps###
- Preheat the oven to 400F
- Line a baking sheet with parchment and arrange the prosciutto in a singel layer
- Bake until wrinkled and slightly shrunken, 11-13 minutes, and cool
Soup###
- In a large bowl, toss together the squash, 1 TBsp EVOO (not to be confused with 1 TBsp of Evee), salt & black pepper
- In a stock pot, heat 2 TBsp of oil over medium-high heat, add half the squash (or whatever will fit) and let it sit until the undreside gets dark, 6-7 minutes (pretty near burned). Using a spatula, lift the squash, sraping as needed and flip, continue until browned, another 5-6 minutes. Remove to a bowl when done. Add a little bit of the broth if needed, to deglaze the bottom of the pan.
- Repeat with the remaining squash (2 or 3 batches is fine). Leaving the final batch in the pan when done.
- Finely chop 4 of the sage leaves and add to the pot, add onion and garlic. Scraping the bottom of the pot, and cooking until the onion is soft and lightly golden.
- Add the previous squash and the remaining broth and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat and simmer until the squash is tender and starting to fall apart, approximately 25 minutes (we had to cook a little longer since my 1in was a bit generous).
- While the soup is simmering, in a small saucepan, heat about 1/2in of oil over medium heat until shimmering hot.
- Working in small batches of a few leaves at a time, add the sage to the oil and watch them crisp up, should only take 10-15s, they’ll stop sizzling when they’re done. Remove to paper towel and repeat with the others.
- Use your stick blender (you do have one, right?) to puree the soup until smooth. Watch the arms and the eyes.
- Add the cream and simmer until warmed through, about 5 minutes.
- Serve with a splash of cream and top with prosciutto and sage.
Verdict##
D: Absolutely delicious. The cooking of the squash until dark adds a lot of complexity to the flavour, rather than it being.. kind of just squash baby food. As Steph said, it might get a little bit salty with the Prosciutto & being so well pre-salted. I did enjoy it though, but I like my salt. We definitely will be making it again.
S: This soup was a pleasant surprise as butternut squash soups are often on the lighter and sweeter side. This one’s quite the opposite, very hearty and very filling after even just a few spoonfuls. Second day of having it was a bit too salty but that could have just been my fault for adding too many prosciutto crisps. Would definitely make this again, it’s going to be a staple in our household for very cold winter days.