Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Butternut squash soup is the quintessential soup for Thanksgiving. It wears a pale orange shade, is sweet, warm and comforting in flavor, but to complete the magical trifecta the texture must be nothing less than perfecta! So puree well and pass the soup through the drum sieve. You will be rewarded with perfection.
Yield: six portions as an appetizer
Equipment: Roasting pan or half sheet tray, chef’s knife, cutting board, tinfoil, wooden skewer, measuring cups and spoons, small bowls, large heavy bottomed sauce pan, long handled wooden spoon, medium bowl with fine mesh drum sieve/tamis, hand held burr blender, food processor and/or blender, pastry scraper or large rubber spatula, small fine wire whisk, small rubber spatula, small sauce pan, small wooden spoon, nutmeg grater or fine edge microplane, soup ladle, medium ice cream scoop.
Ingredients:
1 large or two small butternut squash
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice berries
Kosher salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons Madeira
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup chopped onion
½ cup peeled, chopped carrot
½ washed, chopped whites of leeks
4 cups chicken broth
2 cup water
½ peeled Idaho potato, chopped
2 tablespoon Madeira
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
½ cup fresh young chevre
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon fine bread crumbs
½ teaspoon butter
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- To roast the squash, halve the squash and discard the seeds. Rub with oil. Sprinkle with dry ingredients. Sprinkle with Madeira. Place on a roasting pan or half sheet tray. Bake loosely covered with tinfoil for about an hour. Test with wooden skewer. Bake further if needed. The squash should be very tender.
- While the squash is roasting prepare the soup base. Over moderate heat add oil to a large heavy-bottomed sauce pan. Add the chopped vegetables. Sweat over moderate heat, stirring to prevent scorching. When the onion and carrots are softening and the leeks well wilted add the garlic. The heat should be moderate and the vegetables will give exude liquid.
- When the squash is tender, scrap the flesh into the vegetable pan and stir well to combine. Add the liquids and seasoning. Stir and cover to finish cooking. When all is very tender, taste for seasoning.
- Transfer the soup to cold containers to cool speedily and place in a cold bath or fill the sink with cold water and place the pan into the cold water to help cool the soup.
- While the soup is cooling set up a fine mesh drum strainer/tamis sieve in a bowl slightly larger than the sieve so it sits comfortably.
- Puree the soup to very fine using a food processor and/or blender or a hand held burr mixer. If the soup is too dense, dilute it with a little cold water or cold chicken stock. Taste and do your final seasoning.
- Process the soup in small batches and transfer to the sieve. Using the straight side of a pastry scraper or a rubber spatula scrape the puree through the tamis to the bowl beneath. Keep an eye on it so the level of the liquid beneath does not touch the mesh.
- Transfer to a plastic container to refrigerate or if serving immediately, pour into a clean sauce pan to reheat.
- For the whipped chevre, whip till light and fluffy with a fine wire whisk. (For larger amounts whip in a mixer.) In a separate small bowl whip the heavy cream to soft peak. Using a small rubber spatula fold the cream into the chevre. Refrigerate till ready for service.
- For the crumbs, heat the butter in a very small pan. Add the crumbs and toast till light golden. Add the cocoa and nutmeg and reserve for service.
- To serve reheat the soup over gentle heat, keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t boil. Boiling will coagulate the proteins which will fleck the soup and make it unsightly.
- Ladle into warmed bowls. Place a medium (one tablespoon) scoop of whipped chevre into the center of the bowl and dust with the spiced crumbs.
