The Story
Soup/ Bisque
I think I mentioned this a while ago, but I flew to Florida in late October to be maid of honor in my friend Lauren's wedding. Her ceremony was held at sunset on the beach in St. Pete's, and was absolutely gorgeous, if a bit windy. The reception was a blast (nothing like dancing to Nicky Minaj's "Pound the Alarm" with your mom), and after the dancing ended, my friend Mina almost worked up the courage to go in the ocean.
Trying to get Mina to go swimming. She has a fear of "natural bodies of water."
Unfortunately, when we woke up the next morning, we all faced the nasty reminder that the winds that had only slightly marred the ceremony the night before were a mild side effect of Super Storm Sandy. With the giant storm approaching the Northeast, many of our flights were delayed or cancelled.
I was one of the unlucky ones whose Sunday night flight was cancelled. And then, due to flooding at JFK and LGA, my rescheduled Wednesday flight was cancelled. JetBlue did their best to accommodate everyone affected by the storm, but unfortunately I didn't get a flight back to NYC until Saturday, or 6 days after I was originally scheduled to fly home.
I really shouldn't complain about an impromptu 6 day vacation in South Florida while my friends were stuck in the storm-disabled city, but I had to buy a bunch of new clothes (I was not going to wear my bridesmaid's dress for the whole week), and impinge on the gracious hospitality of the bride's lovely father and stepmother. Luckily, I have known Steve and Kumiko pretty much forever (I am sure they have tons of embarrassing baby Kristin stories), and even though they said it was totally fine if I stayed with them, I still felt like I should do whatever possible to be a desirable houseguest. Cue cooking.
The first night at their house, my mother and I prepared an asparagus, garlic, and bacon risotto, as well as a butternut squash soup (it's technically just a soup, because it's really just pureed vegetables, spices, and stock, but I like to call it a bisque because it is so thick). Kumi loved the soup. She loved it so much she ate it for breakfast for the next two days.
When I made the soup as a starter for our Thanksgiving dinner, my cousins also raved about the soup, and since it's so easy, I thought I would share (in case anyone else needs to make themselves feel better about being a last-minute, week-long houseguest).
The Food
STEP ONE: Roast butternut squash. Peel a medium to large butternut squash (note: use a knife to peel the squash, as butternut squash skin is quite thick and first 1/8th inch of flesh has weird green stringy parts). Cube the peeled squash, cutting into approximate 1/2 inch cubes. Toss with salt, pepper, a bit of cinnamon (if desired), and olive oil (about 1 and 1/2 to 2 tablespoons). Bake at 400 degrees F for 40 minutes, stirring once about 20 minutes through.
NOTE: It's totally ok to very desirable to roast the squash so long that the cubes have a lot of color on them (almost to the point that the squash slightly burns). This color just indicates that the sugars in the squash are caramelizing, thus giving the soup a deeper and slightly sweeter taste, and maybe darkening the color of the soup just a bit.
About halfway.
STEP TWO: Chop and saute onion. Boil stock. After you've stirred the butternut squash halfway through, start the other ingredients. Chop one large sweet onion. Saute in one to two tablespoons of butter or olive oil over medium high heat in a large stock pot for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the edges of the onion pieces to start to brown a bit. If you want, add some chopped garlic (one to two cloves), and saute for a bit, until the garlic bits start to brown, before you add the stock and water (I usually don't add garlic, but it adds another dimension of flavor). Next, add three cups of chicken stock, and one cup of water. Add more or less stock and water depending how thin or thick you want your soup.
Salt and pepper generously to taste, and add about 1 and 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger (or more, if desired). Bring the onion, stock, water, and spices to a boil. At this point, the butternut squash should be out of the oven, so add it into the pot. If you prepared the butternut squash earlier, and it is now cool, make sure the stock comes to a boil to heat up the squash.
Onion, butternut squash (notice that it is almost- ok, definitely- burned in spots), and stock/ water.
STEP THREE: Puree and heat through. Eh, this is the hard part. You need a blender or food processor, and a large bowl. Ladle batches of the onion-squash-stock mixture into the blender or food processor, being careful not to overfill (my mom learned this the hard way, and splashed herself and the kitchen with super hot soup). Blend the soup until it's pureed thoroughly, and pour the pureed soup into the bowl. Working in batches, puree all of the onion-squash-stock mixture, and then transfer back into the original stock pot to keep it warm. Add salt, pepper and ginger to taste.
Puree.
STEP FOUR: Garnish and serve. Ladle the pureed and seasoned soup into bowls. I like to garnish with a dollop of whipped cream, especially if you have had a heavy hand with the ground ginger. If you really want to get fancy, sprinkle some chopped chives on top of the sour cream. Eat.
Soup.
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