Ok, so even though I had something really big to blog about yesterday, I have something again today, but those who are looking for my big news ought not to look for it in this one, it's in the one below. So, look there...
!!!!!!! I just made the most fantastic Butternut Squash Soup I've ever tasted. Yes, it is a medley of flavor and goodness. To be honest with you, I don't know if I could duplicate it if I tried, because it was all me - roughly following a recipe, and dashing, guessing quantities, etc... My outline was found on epicurious.com. I roughly followed the recipe, but as I said - I messed up on a couple of things, but managed to salvage the soup and make it something - AMAZING!!! I really am not being very modest about the soup - I know, but it's true - amazing. So, roughly, here is what I did...
I bought these 2 lovely Butternut Squash at Community Natural Foods - because I really couldn't resist the lovely squash display they had, and enjoyed the idea of squash filling my soul with the lovely feeling of autumn goodness. I love the autumn, honestly, I think it may be my favorite season. So - there they were, calling my name and I brought them home...
There they were, so I had to find a recipe - found this one on epicurious.com as I said previously. So, I cut them in half - lengthwise, and scooped out the seeds...
They had the most lovely orange color...
Scooped out those lovely seeds, and placed the halves down flat on an oiled baking sheet to bake for 50 minutes. This is what they looked like when they came out - all shiny like that - aren't they beautiful?
So then I skinned the squash with a paring knife - this actually proved a little more difficult than I thought it would be because it was hot and messy. But, the skin itself came off quite easily, and then I cut it into cubes...
So, then came the actual cooking of the soup part - which is where I messed up a little - simply because I didn't read the whole recipe over before beginning, and just dashed and guessed some stuff, anyway, I heated the oil, and added the 2 cups of onions, added the brown sugar and the ginger - which I added quite plentifully - as I'm a huge ginger fan, and really don't think 2 teaspoons is enough. Also, added the garlic (unfortunately all I had was powdered - bleh), and the cinnamon. Again, I didn't have a cinnamon stick, so ended up adding 2 tsp (which turns out to be a lot - haha) of ground cinnamon. If I had read the recipe more closely - I would have seen that the cinnamon stick was to stay in the soup whilst cooking, but then removed later - however, I added the cinnamon powdered. Well, then it made my simmering onions and stuff all dry, so I added more water and a dash more oil. No big deal. How much can you really screw up a squash soup? Hmm? So, then I added the chunks of squash, and the chicken broth...
Brought it to a boil, then let it simmer for 10 minutes. I then blended it to a puree in portions (it produced a monumental amount of soup), and - this is what I ended up with...
It may not look like much, but with a bit of salt - voila - it was possibly the best thing I've ever tasted... Mum and Dad thought so too, they kept coming in the kitchen and saying - good grief something smells good. Mum actually called me a clever girl... (She's in a good mood today) And - honestly - I've impressed myself, and I'm harder on myself than anyone is...
Go - get some winter squash - and experiment for yourself - it is so tasty and full of goodness...
1 comment:
Seeing you so excited about your soup, I'll have to try it!
-Your going to have so much fun in Scotland! (after you get settled in..) :)
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