Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
I usually make two or three soups every week for the restaurant. We always offer a vegetarian option such as tomato and a soup of the day, which is usually based on seasonal ingredients. For today’s soup I made a Roasted Butternut Squash with Lemon Crème Fraiche and Microgreens.
This is a really velvety, rich soup that has hints of sweetness as a result from roasting the butternut squash and adding sparkling apple cider and brown sugar. If you don’t have butternut squash you can substitute sugar pumpkins and get the same results. The hardest thing about making this soup is peeling, seeding and chopping the pieces before roasting. Butternut squash is a really hard, thick squash and it will require some upper body work, but it’s well worth it.
Peel, seed and chop butternut squash into uniform large chunks and toss with oil, salt and pepper. Place on a sheet pan and roast in a pre-heated 400 degree oven until golden brown and soft. Meanwhile, rough chop your mirepoix and add it to preheated oil in a large stockpot and cook until caramelized. Add chopped garlic, sage and thyme and deglaze the pan with sparkling apple cider. Add your roasted butternut squash, chicken stock and water to cover. (I like using a combination of chicken stock and water in my butternut squash soup, but you can make a vegetarian version by only adding water and/or vegetable stock.). Bring soup to a boil, stir and reduce heat to a medium simmer and cook for about an hour to meld the flavors. Ten minutes or so before blending the soup, add a small amount of cream, butter, brown sugar, and season really well with salt and a small amount of pepper. Butternut squash soup gets really thick when you blend it and so I always keep extra stock, cream or water on hand when starting to blend. Check seasonings again and add more salt and lemon juice to heighten the flavors.
When I garnish a soup I like to take three things into consideration: color, ingredients in the soup and contrasting flavors. So for this soup I decided that a hint a lemon would balance really nicely against the sweetness of the soup and the white crème fraiche and green microgreens give it great contrasting color. Another great garnish for this soup is to thinly slice a whole granny smith apple (with skins and core) on a mandolin and poach until tender (be careful to maintain the shape of the apple slices) in sparkling apple cider and a cinnamon stick. Strain apples really well and separate slices and place on a silpat on a sheet tray and bake in a 250 degree oven until crisp and lightly golden. The apples have a beautiful star design because of the seeds and offer a crisp contrast to the smooth soup.
I hope that a version of this soup will end up on your table this Thanksgiving. Enjoy!
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