Soup « (y)our food choices™

Butternut squash is in season and we’re excited to bring it back into rotation in our kitchen. This year we kick things off with a soup made from a purée of this versatile, sweet, nutty, autumn fruit. The squash is easy enough to prepare, requiring little more than cutting, scooping seeds, and cooking (boil or bake). We love how easy butternut squash is to prepare. Never mind that it’s full of vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, and lots of antioxidants and micronutrients.

Butternut squash is so full of rich flavor that it doesn’t require much embellishment to make a delicious soup. We like to roast it first to caramelize the sugars a bit. The roasted squash is then ready to be eaten as is, blended with roasted onions into stock, and then seasoned with salt and pepper. If you like to experiment with flavors, you can always add herbs and spices to the base soup. Sweet spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and clove are classic American holiday flavors. If you’re looking for something a little different, butternut squash, like pumpkin, loves curry. Or make it more Mediterranean by stirring in a little basil pesto. Believe us, the soup can take it.

We enrich this iteration of butternut squash soup with sweet unsalted butter, a dollop of sour cream, and a drizzle of sage scented olive oil. Toasted pumpkin seeds, fried sage leaves, and a dash of Tabasco add gild to the proverbial lily, but the hearty squash makes for a perfect backdrop to rich flavors. With a fistful of warm, crusty bread, a hot bowl of this butternut squash soup leaves you full and happy!

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Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash
1 medium onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cups broth, chicken or veggie
salt and pepper
soy sauce
4-6 tablespoons butter

Special equipment: immersion blender or upright blender

Preheat oven to 450 degree. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.

Trim the ends off of the butternut squash and cut vertically in half splitting the firm flesh into two rounds pieces – the stem end and the seeded end. Stand each of those halfs on end and cut vertically in half. Spoon out the seeds. Set the butternut squash on the baking sheet, cut-side down.

Peel and quarter the onion and place it on the baking sheet. Drizzle about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil over the flesh of the squash and the quartered onion.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and roast for about 30 minutes. Turn the onion pieces over and continue to roast for another 10-20 minutes, or until the squash is tender and the cut flesh is slightly toasted and there’s a slight char on the onion. Remove from the oven and cool until the squash can be easily handled, 15-30 minutes.

Warm the broth in a large pot.

Once the onions and butternut squash are cool enough to handle, peel the squash using a knife. Some of the flesh may stick, and it’s OK. A little skin in the soup is easy enough to blend. Add the onions and the squash to the broth. Add a good pinch of salt and pepper.

Using the immersion blender, blend squash, onions, and broth, until you get a smooth purée. Once smooth, season to taste with salt, pepper, and a little soy sauce.

With the immersion blender running, add one tablespoon of the softened butter at a time until each tablespoon is fully incorporated into the soup. Continue one by one for the next 4-6 tablespoons, or until the soup reaches your preferred richness.

As the new year approached, we started searching for chicken porridge recipes. They were all similarly easy to put together, but they also all called for long grain white rice. We like white rice but we also wanted our version to be more healthy, so we substituted the white rice for brown basmati rice. The brown rice gave it more fiber and the basmati lent a nutty taste to the porridge. We also like mixing grains whenever we get the opportunity. Our morning oatmeal will sometimes have polenta, quinoa, or whatever small amount of grain or seed we have on hand. So with the basmati rice we included steel cut oats, a traditional morning staple and just regular wheat.

This dish also cooks a lot longer then regular oatmeal or rice, about twice as long. The rice breaks down into a mush like consistency. The result is a savory morning, afternoon, or evening treat. The batch that we made was too much for just the two of us so we froze part of it. We now look forward to coming home after a morning run to find a thawed batch of the porridge sitting on the counter from the night before and all that is required is a quick reheating of the porridge, a couple poached eggs, and a few chops of the knife for the condiments to bring this yummy dish back to life.

Congee — Chicken Porridge
(Serves 6-8)

1 whole chicken (organic preferred)
1 small cinnamon stick
few whole allspice
small handful of whole peppercorns
1 star anise
1 inch knob of ginger (peeled and sliced into thick rounds)
3-4 carrots, scrubbed clean and cut into 2-inches
2-3 celery stocks, cut into 2-inches
1 large shallot, cut into large chunks
1 gallon of cold water, or more to cover the bird
1/8-1/4 cup soy sauce
2 cups brown basmati rice, or other long grain rice (not instant)
2 cups steel cut oats (not rolled oats), or other whole grain, or a combination
3-4 chopped green onions
small bunch chopped cilantro
Chinese donut, cut into pieces (optional)
soy sauce
sesame oil
Sriracha and other hot sauce condiments

Put the chicken, vegetables, and spices into a large stock pot and cover with cold water, about a gallon, and add the soy saucePut the stock pot on the stove and over medium heat cover the pot and allow the water to come to a boil. Once the water is boiling turn the heat down to low and simmer for about 1 hour. Turn the heat off and remove the chicken. It will probably be falling off the bones. Strain the stock and discard the vegetables and spices.
Return the stock to a clean pan and add the rice and steel cut oats. Over a medium heat bring the broth, rice, and oats (and grains) to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook slowly stirring occasionally for about 2 – 2 1/2 hours. During the last half hour you’ll want to stir more frequently to avoid scorching the bottom. This can be done the night before, covered and finished the next morning.
In the meantime, when the chicken has rested and cooled, remove the skin and bones from the chicken and shred the meat with your hands. Careful to remove all cartilage and gristle. If you’re eating the congee right away, add half to all of the chicken— depending on the size of the bird and the amount of meat. If you’re cooking the congee the night before, refrigerate the shredded chicken and add to the congee the next morning.
Serve in warmed bowls with chopped green onions, cilantro, Chinese donuts, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and Sriracha or other hot sauce.

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