I had read the butternut squash soup recipe from the Restaurant Nicholas cookbook, and figured that would be a great recipe to bring to Thanksgiving dinner, as well as an easy first recipe as I attempt to cook my way through this cookbook. I took my time taking shots of my mise and cooking and what not, and of course I left my camera in East Brunswick. Apologies in advance for the lack of prep photos, but if you want to see some amazing pictures (and another account of the recipe), check out Rob's post at Cooking Through Nicholas. No, really, go check it out...I'll wait...
OK, so you're back. I can't even begin to tell you how easy this recipe is. Roast some butternut squash, with butter. Saute your aromatic base of onion, carrot & celery root (my new favorite ingredient). Make a sachet with cinnamon, cloves and whole nutmeg (my new favorite spice). Deglaze the pot with cranberry juice (!). Add broth (I cheated this time and used Swanson Certified Organic, a Test Kitchen favorite) and squash and simmer. Blend (I went with the stick blender, but if you've got a high-powered machine, use a blender). That's IT. Easy.
Here's me making the garnish in my uncle's (the funny-looking one on the right). The garnish is diced butternut squash sauteed in butter, bacon (!) and dried cranberries.
To plate, Steph added a few drops of lemon oil (which are all that is needed - the recipe called for 1/4 tsp, which was way too overpowering), a Microplane of cinnamon, a mound of garnish in the middle, then a large ladle of soup. I had my mom pick me up some microarugula at Delicious Orchards, but they looked like (and in fact, were) the last that they had. We tried it for one plate, then quickly abandoned. Here's the finished product:
How did it come out? The original texture was a bit too thin for some, but (thanks to a suggestion to my blog buddy Rob), we let it simmer for a bit when we reheated it on Saturday night and the texture was much better. As for the flavor, not surprisingly, was amazing - it tasted like autumn, with the earthiness and spiciness really coming through. Fortunately, this recipe makes nearly a gallon of soup, so we were able to enjoy it for a few days afterwords, and my uncle ended up keeping a tubful for himself!
5 comments:
Can't you just eat that garnish in a bowl by itself? haha.
Looks good
The next time I make this, I gotta make it vegetarian for my mother in-law. I think it will be pretty easy to do, subbing the stock out with veggie and leaving the bacon out, but I wonder how it will affect the taste.
That garnish sounds amazing!
I read somewhere that the Swanson's broth was the best to buy - I need to try it!
I am digging the action shots you've recently added to the blog!
Rob - I can't imagine using veggie stock will have that much of a difference, especially since it's made with the same aromatics. It's not very refined, but maybe a drop or two of liquid smoke to sub for the bacon?
Heather - It is. I was fighting off hovering family members with a spatula (then helping myself when no one was looking).
Wow - It's really Rob's fault. His photos have inspired me to try to do a better job with my own pictures. It is difficult, however, to try to take pictures while I'm cooking. It definitely adds to the fun.
It was delicious. You can bring me food any day.
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