It is pouring rain today, which means two things. First, I am in heaven. Second, it’s time for a cozy bowl of soup.
I know several of you are chomping at the bit for my Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe. The recipe is coming this week, I promise. I just need to take a picture. Until then, I hope my most favorite soup recipe EVER will suffice.
Butternut Squash Soup
A cozy delicious soup! From my friend Sarah Covert, with my commentary in italics
Author: Jane Maynard
Recipe type: Main Dish, Soup
Ingredients
- Soup:
- 1 large butternut squash, about 3.5 lbs.
- 1 large leek
- 2 T unsalted butter
- 4 tsp. grated fresh ginger (you can use ground ginger – I think about 1 tsp should do it)
- 5-6 cups chicken stock
- Salt
- Freshly ground pepper (this last time I used fresh ground black pepper and 2 shakes of cayenne)
- Peanuts:
- (optional garnish that I never make b/c I don’t like peanuts”¦but those who do love these spiced peanuts on top)
- 1 1/12 C roasted peanuts (not dry-roasted)
- 2 T peanut oil
- 1½ t. ground ginger
- 1 T finely chopped garlic
- 2 t. finely chopped fresh cilantro
- ½ tsp. Chinese five-spice powder (in bulk at Henry’s)
- ¼ t. cayenne pepper
Instructions
- I roast the squash, cut in pieces & wrapped in foil, in my oven at 375 for 40-60 mins. That said, here’s what the recipe tells you to do. With a large heavy knife, cut the squash in half through the stem and discard the seeds. Brush the cut sides with olive oil. Grill, cut sides down, indirectly over medium heat until the skin can be easily pierced with the tip of a sharp knife, about 1 hour. Remove the squash from the grill and cool”¦ with a large spoon, scoop the flesh from the squash and discard the skin.
- Cut off most of the tough green top from the leek. Cut the leek lengthwise and wash under cold running water to remove any dirt trapped. Cut crosswise into ½-inch pieces.
- In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add leek and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until the looks are tender, about 5 minutes. Add 5 cups of the chicken stock. Bring to a boil and carefully add the squash. Recude the heat to very low and cook, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Puree the soup, in batches in a blender. Return soup to saucepan. If it seems thick, use remain stock as needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm, garnished with peanuts if desired.
- For the peanuts: In a small bowl, combine the peanuts, peanut oil, ground ginger, garlic, cilantro, five-spice powder and cayenne. Toss well to coat the peanuts evenly, then transfer to large sheet of aluminum foil. pull the corners of the foil together and close the pouch. place the pouch over indirect medium heat for 5 minutes. Carefully remove pouch and allow to cool.
Hi! My name is Jane Maynard and you've landed yourself on my blog, This Week for Dinner™. Every Sunday I share a weekly menu...and count on you to share yours! You'll also find other deliciousness that I hope you'll enjoy!
This soup is delicious! I also make it with pumpkin sometimes instead of squash. I love the fresh ginger with it!
It’s chilly here too, so maybe it’s time to whip this out. Can’t wait to try it.
I just found you today…sitting cozy at home in the storm too…… surfin’ blogworld.I LOVE what you have going on here. Every morning, the first thing that pops into my mind is “What should I make for dinner tonight.”
I LOVE cooking too..
I’ll check back later,
Stay Cozy !
Kary
I made butternut squash soup today too. But yours looks SO much better! Recounting my steps to see where I went wrong. Mine is just too soupy. It needs more body.
Your photo is not only stunning it looks YUMMY too! I wanted you to know how much I appreciate your kindness and the recent mention and link to me on your blog. I hope you’ll drop by mine, as I returned the favor.
Beautiful photo. It makes me hungry just looking at it!
it’s also good with toasted walnuts, blue (or “Bleu”)cheese and chopped sage
It does look good and I just had to click through to see what the main ingredient was. I also liked the idea of the toppings that Dottie mentioned. Suddenly it’s okay to play with your food lol!
Your soups are making my mouth water! This one is by far my fav!! I love butternut soup and this looks amazing, so creamy!
I love Fall!
Made this the other night, it was delicious, except that I added 2 shakes of cayenne and my kids thought it was too spicy. I loved it though!
this is the best butternut squash soup i have ever made. I did not do the peanut topping, but did add a heavy dose of FRESH cilantro about 1/2 hour before i served it. this soup will be a staple now in my kitchen.
I never do the peanuts, either. I’m so glad you love the soup as much as I do – yea!!! 🙂
This looks like it might be the Joy of Cooking recipe…if it is, I know it’s fabulous! The JOC book recommends fresh cilantro & baked squash seeds on top. Just toss the rinsed/drained butternut squash seeds in olive oil & salt & bake until their slightly golden. I’ve tried it and it is lovely!
love joy of cooking…and mine is buried in a box right now, can’t wait to get it out and compare – I miss my book. wish it wasn’t in storate!
love the cilantro and squash seeds idea…thank you!
until *they’re* slightly golden, excuse me 🙂
I’m going to make this tonight. I’m planning on topping it with some sauteed onions 🙂
Hi Jane!
Great recipe and photos! I was wondering how many servings this soup recipe makes – I am going to be multiplying it to feed 75 people 🙂 Thanks!
Dana
when I got the original recipe, it didn’t have servings. so, let me think about this…
when I make it, our family of four eats and we have leftovers for another meal. I’m thinking it probably serves about 8-10. The first time I had it, there were 6 adults eating and there was plenty of soup for all of us.
I hope this is helpful! And let me know how making it for 75 people goes!!! 🙂
HI Jane,
I have wanted to make this recipe since I smelt and tasted your butternut squash soup cooking at your apartment in student housing years ago. It’s a cool overcast day so soup sounds perfect. I finally bought the butternut squash and will roast it while I get the remaining ingredients at Sprouts. Not sure if I’ll do the peanuts, depends if Sprouts has all the ingredients I need, I have had dried cranberries and spiced walnuts on butternut squash soup which was delicious. I can’t wait. I’ll let you know how it turns out.