New Recipe #5 — Jan 2009

As per my 100 Things list, I am tackling #41 – Try a new recipe every month for a year. The previous months’ recipes can be found here:

Sep 2008: Butter Bean Burgers
Oct 2008: Pasta e Fagioli
Nov 2008: Sweet Potato and Cranberry Hash
Dec 2008: Potato-Onion Tartlets

This month I chose another soup recipe. These cold temperatures and biting winds just demand a hot bowl of soup, wouldn’t you agree? I found this recipe in the Williams-Sonoma cookbook called, Essentials of Healthful Cooking. For some reason, I can’t find the recipe online so I can’t link to it. (And this picture is from W-S’s web site but not of this particular recipe.)

Butternut Squash Soup

INGREDIENTS
* 1 butternut squash, about 1 1/4 lb.
* 1 Fuji apple, peeled, cored, and diced
* 2 shallots, chopped
* 2 cups vegetable broth
* 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
* Pinch of ground cayenne pepper
* 2 tbsp. thawed, frozen orange juice concentrate
* Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
* Walnuts, roasted, for garnish (This was the only substitution I made from the original recipe. It called for garnishing with sauteed portobello mushrooms, which I did not have, do not care for, and wasn’t going to make a trip to the store to get. So I went with walnuts.)

DIRECTIONS
Cut the squash in half. Remove and discard the seeds, then peel and dice the flesh. In a Dutch oven or large, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the squash, apple, shallots, broth, oregano, and cayenne. Bring to a boil; reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until the vegetables are very soft, 25-30 minutes. Remove from heat, uncover and let the soup stand for about 15 minutes. Use an immersion blender or standing blender to puree smooth. Stir in the orange juice concentrate and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with walnuts after serving, if desired.

NEXT TIME
This was pretty good as is but I prefer things more savory than sweet so I would probably omit the orange juice concentrate next time. Other than that, it was perfectly seasoned.

SIDES
I didn’t pair this with anything but it would be great with crusty bread and a salad.