CALIFORNIA SOUL

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

The other day my post on Facebook & Twitter read "Woke up this a.m. w/ cranberries (& job hunting) on my mind so I'm making roasted butternut squash soup - from scratch! Oy, I need a job". So what does butternut squash soup have to do with cranberries? Nothing. Sometimes my brain just works in crazy ways. More on the cranberries later.

Anyway, several days ago, my mom and I stopped for lunch and the soup special was butternut squash.  I must admit, I've never had butternut squash ANYTHING and wasn't very interested in starting then, but they were giving away samples so I decided to try some. Yum. I mean, not bad. Seriously. I was a bit surprised considering squash of any kind can be sort of bland and boring. This soup was anything but. It made me happy!  I mean really happy.  Ever since then, I've sort of been curious about butternut squash - read about it in magazines, found soup recipes, and even had a butternut squash and cranberry salad from Whole Foods (don't worry, there won't be a butternut squash sangria). In my obsession, I came across a recipe that sounded interesting; it just needed a bit of "tweeking". The recipe (Holiday Entertaining from Cook's Illustrated 2011) calls for roasting of the squash with shallots. Brilliant! What a yumminess that creates. Roasted veggies are always more tasty and the combination of the squash with my addition of roasted carrots, and sherry gives this soup a pleasant surprise of sweet yet mellow richness.

The prep of this soup took WAY too long.  A word of advice, find pre-cut butternut squash (Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, etc.). 30 minutes and lovely orange hands later, I finally peeled, seeded and cut 2 large butternut squash. Not something I will do again if I can at all help it.  Again, FIND PRE-CUT BUTTERNUT SQUASH!  Other than that mishap, this is one of the easiest soups I've ever made.  It makes a lot so be prepared to share or freeze.  I hope you like it!

What about the cranberries you ask? Check out the next Sangria Sunday blog post. . .

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients

6 C (2 large) Butternut Squash - peeled, seeded and cut into cubes
6 oz (2 medium) Shallots - cut into large pieces
1/3 C Olive Oil
2 t Salt
1 t Pepper
1 lb Carrots - cut into small cubes (I used 1 lb pre-washed baby carrots)
8 C Chicken Broth - low sodium

1/2 C Heavy Cream

1/4 C Sherry

2 T Maple Syrup

2 t Apple Cider Vinegar

1/4 t Ground Nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. You will need to prepare oven for two sheet pans.

Combine squash, shallots, oil, salt & pepper in a large bowl.  Spread mixture in a single layer on two sheet pans. Roast, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are golden brown and softened, about 45 minutes.  Halfway through the roasting process, add carrots. Add 1/2 cup broth to each of the pans, scraping up the yummy brown bits stuck on the bottom. Roast additional 5 minutes.

Working in 3 to 4 batches, puree squash mix and remaining 7 cups broth in blender until smooth (NOTE: I put mixture and broth in a pot and used an emulsion blender - much cleaner and faster.) In the large pot, combine squash mixture, cream, sherry, syrup, vinegar, and nutmeg. Bring soup to simmer over medium-low heat. If you'd like, you may add water or more broth to thin consistency. Serve.

SANGRIA SUNDAY

Happy Halloween!!!!

For this week's sangria, I thought I would bring back one of my craziest recipes. Yes, you guessed it, Pumpkin Sangria. Here is what I posted on November 5, 2010 and the recipe that went with it!  ENJOY!

Pumpkin Sangria

Pie. Bread. Cheesecake. Cookies. Latte.  So many sweet yummy fall delights are made with the goodness of pumpkin as the predominant flavor.  Why not Pumpkin Sangria?  Sounds strange, yes, but think about it. A little sugar, a bit of cinnamon, some nutmeg - any number of brilliant recipes can be made from pumpkin.  For decades, the fall and the fall holiday season has been synonymous with pumpkins and, as we just finished with all of the Trick-or-Treating, there are plenty of pumpkins to be found (at least that's what I thought.  More on that later.)  Here is another great idea for those left over pumpkins!

Native to North America, when ripe, pumpkins can be boiled, baked, steamed, or roasted. Pumpkins are also loaded with vital nutrients.  In fact, the most pronounced nutrient - beta carotene - may reduce the risk of developing certain cancers and protects against heart disease.  It is also low in calories, low in fat and high in fiber - woo hoo!  More good reasons to try pumpkin in sangria - nutrients.  I never really thought about the benefits of pumpkin, but now that I know some of them, I may very well try more pumpkin in my diet (pumpkin sangria that is).

SANGRIA SUNDAY

Pomegranate Sangria (try 2)

Last year, the pomegranate sangria recipe was a lot of trial and error for Clearly Bacchus.  It just seemed like the tartness (and yumminess) of the pomegranates was too overpowering for anything sweet added.  That being said, I decided to try it again.  There has to be a way to make this iconic fall flavor work in my favorite drink!   So here we are. Atempt number 2 with pomegranate.

This time wasn't much different than the previous. Several futile attempts at perfection left me frustrated and well, to be honest, a liile drunk.  Too tart, too much orange, wrong wine base - arghhhh. There comes a point in recipe testing when your tastebuds can no longer tell the difference between red pepper flakes and cracked black pepper, and in my case, pomegranate liqueur and cabernet. I'm glad I have family and neighbors who like to be taste testers (affectionately called "lab rats").  Without them, my recipes may turn out more like moonshine than sangria.  I finally had to ask for help on this one and while the offer was greeted enthusiastcally, I think we still fell short of the taste perfection mark.  That is until I had some the next night. . .