recipes:aromatic_acorn_squash_soup
Table of Contents
Aromatic Acorn Squash Soup
Credit: Celti
This is a delicate, flavourful, and creamy soup, with a robust but gentle base of roasted acorn squash and carrots, carrying complex herbal aromatics and a peppery finish.
This is a large batch, making nearly a gallon of soup. Scale everything as necessary.
Ingredients
- Vegetables
- Acorn squash, washed, halved, and seeded, ×5 squashes (about 6 lbs.)
- Carrots, peeled and chunked, 2 lbs.
- Shallots, peeled, ×10 large cloves/segments (about 10 oz.)
- Leeks, finely sliced or shredded, 1 c.
- Liquids
- Butter, 1/2 c. plus 2 Tbsp.
- Chicken stock, 2 qt.
- Heavy cream or half-and-half, 2 c.
- Cream sherry, 1/4 c.
- Herbs & Spices
- Kosher salt, 2 Tbsp.
- Coarse black pepper, 1 Tbsp.
- White pepper, 2 tsp.
- Fresh sage, 1 Tbsp.
- Fresh summer savory, 1 Tbsp.
- Saffron, 1/4 tsp.
- Tools
- Baking sheet lined with aluminium foil
- Heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, 6+ qt.
- Heatproof immersion blender
Substitutions
Pre-washed, ready-to-eat “baby” carrots are preparation-free but typically more expensive.
If you don't have fresh sage or savory, use a teaspoon and a half of dried.
You can use a heatproof stand blender, but prepare for lots of messy batches.
Some friendly Australians have informed me that Queensland Blue pumpkins work well in place of the acorn squash.
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place the squash halves cut-side-up on the baking sheet, surrounded by the carrots.
- Place one clove of shallot in the hollow of each squash half.
- Coat all of the vegetables with a quarter-cup of melted butter, and season liberally with the salt and black pepper.
- Roast until the squash is beginning to caramelise and collapse (approx. 1 hour), then set aside to cool.
- While the squash is cooling, melt 2 Tbsp. of butter in the pot over medium-high heat.
- When the butter begins to foam, add the chopped leeks and stir.
- Reduce heat to low and cover, cooking for 20–30 minutes until the leeks are caramelised, then deglaze with the sherry.
- Increase heat to medium and add the shallots, carrots, the flesh of the squash, and the chicken stock.
- Puree the soup with an immersion blender and simmer for 10–15 minutes until well-combined.
- Stir in the white pepper, saffron, sage, and savory, and let simmer for at least another 15 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low, blend in the cream, and bring back up to eating temperature; another 10 minutes.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve hot, garnished with fresh parsley and/or shredded carrot.
recipes/aromatic_acorn_squash_soup.txt · Last modified: 2019/10/26 21:33 by Celti