This one comes together quickly, and results in a gloriously smooth and creamy texture. It seems impossible that there is no dairy, except the garnish. The taste is flavorful and full, not watery or brothy. Everyone swears there must be cream in it!
Breaking down the squash takes some time, but this method from Gourmet streamlines it: leave it whole and peel it with a high-quality peeler. Then,slice off the round bulb part from the cylindrical part. Slice the cylindrical part into 1 inch thick rounds, and then cube those. The round part needs to be first sliced in half, then seeded, and then treated the same as the cylindrical part.
Or you can just buy the pre-peeled and cubed variety available at most groceries.
Adapted from Bon Appetit, October 2003
- 1 tablespoons butter
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Cinnamon stick or dash of cinnamon
- 4 1/4 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 4 1/4 cups (or more) vegetable broth or chicken stock
- 1 large apple (or 2 small), peeled, cored, diced (Granny Smith, Gala, etc.)
- 1/2 cup apple juice (optional)
- Cayenne or chili powder, if you'd like to spice it up a bit
- Nonfat Greek yogurt (optional)
- Chopped fresh chives (optional)
Melt butter in large pot over medium-high heat.
Add onion, nutmeg, and cinnamon stick; sauté until onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes.
Add squash, 4 1/4 cups broth, apple, and apple juice, if using.
Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer uncovered until squash and apple are tender, about 30 minutes.
Remove cinnamon stick, if using. Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth. Return soup to pot.
Season to taste with salt and pepper, and a touch of cayenne or chili powder if you like. Bring soup to simmer, thinning with more broth if desired. Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with yogurt and chives.
Freezes well (just add garnishes prior to serving).
6 comments:
Definitely trying this this weekend!
We've been using Kefir in our soups instead of Greek yogurt and it's pretty great.
Thanks for posting!
Definitely trying this this weekend!
We've been using Kefir in our soups instead of Greek yogurt and it's pretty great.
Thanks for posting!
Nice, we just bought our first bottle of Kefir--strawberry. We'll have to check out the plain kind. To me, the benefit of yogurt is your trick yourself into thinking its sour cream. I could see kefir working really well at the end, stirred in, like a cream substitute. Thanks for the idea!
Mmmmms. We just got the ingredients to make this. Do you think if I roasted the squash and then just slid the peel off that it'd affect the texture? Whenever I start to peel hard squash the boy stands there, phone in hand, and waits after dialing 9 and 1 ...
Can't wait to try it out =D
hah! First, I suggest buying a better vegetable peeler. I like Messermeister's serrated peeler, but I've heard good things about Y shaped ones, too.
Second, I don' think the texture will be affected, but the flavor might--roasting will carmelize the squash, unlike boiling. Not necessarily a bad thing--it will just be different.
I actually like this one because you get to skip the tedious roasting step.
Didn't buy a peeler, but it was good roasted, too. We also didn't have apple juice, but we did have some Crispin Cider which I used the same amount of. If you'd served me this, I would *never* have believed that it didn't have cream in it. It's completely lush!
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