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Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

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Thanksgiving — my favorite holiday — is around the corner and I can’t wait to start preparing warming fall flavors to celebrate with friends and family.

I’ve been cooking a thanksgiving meal for my people for 15 years, and it brings me much joy every time. I wrote about the joy and thrill of this holiday here . I look forward to building on that and creating new memories each year. Whether cooking for 25 people or 5 people, I’m simply thankful for the privilege to indulge.

My favorite way to begin the holiday meal is with this decadent and relatively healthy butternut squash soup. The key to the depth of flavor is roasting the vegetables. I often serve this as an appetizer while the mains roast and sizzle away and everyone is gathered in the kitchen enjoying wine, light appetizers, and each other’s company.

In Farsi, butternut squash is called lazy pumpkin (kadoo tanbal), which is hilarious. Butter-nut is the perfect name for this tender, sweet and nutty gourd. I simply roast the squash along with red bell peppers, onion and garlic in the oven, then blend everything together with a bit of broth and a touch of cream for a luscious end result. You can skip the cream for a dairy-free option. I serve it with toasty bread and a garnish of thyme. It’s delicious and warming – A foreshadowing to the rest of an amazing meal to come.

Ingredients:
2-3 medium butternut squash, sliced in half and seeds removed
3 medium white onions, quartered
2 red bell peppers, cut in half and seeds removed
4-6 cloves garlic (adjust to taste)
1/2 cup olive oil, add more if needed
3-4 cups vegetable stock or water, as needed
1 teaspoon salt, adjust to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Fresh lemon juice to taste
1/4 cup cream (optional)
4-6 spring of Thyme for garnish (optional)

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment pape
  2. Slice squash in half, remove seeds, leaving skin on- it will be easier to remove once roasted.
  3. Place squash, skin side down along with onions, bell peppers, and garlic on two baking sheets. Generously coat the vegetables with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.
  4. Bake for about 40 minutes or until squash is golden brown.
  5. Roughly half way through, remove the garlic from the oven to avoid burning.
  6. Let the vegetables cool, then use a spoon to remove flesh of the squash from its skin.
  7. Working in batches, place roasted vegetables and stock in a blender or food processor and purée until smooth. Note- Be careful not to fill the blender to the top with hot vegetables as it will erupt. Leave roughly ¼ of the blender empty.
  8. Continue blending in batches, adding all the purred portions to a large pot. Then adjust the thickness of the soup by adding more stock or water until you get the desired consistency. Alternatively you can use an immersion blender in a pot.
  9. Add enough liquid to thin out the soup to your desired consistency.
  10. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if needed, and a squeeze of lemon for balance, if desired.
  11. If using, add the cream to the pot and stir until fully incorporated into the soup.

The soup will be naturally creamy at this point — the cream adds yet another level of indulgence and more luxurious, velvety texture to the mix

Serve with homemade crostini:
Cut sourdough or baguette of choice into  ½ inch thick slices. Drizzle bread with olive oil and season lightly with salt, pepper and dried oregano. Toast in the oven at 325 for 10 -15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Chicken & Rice Soup with Glorious Garlic Chile Chips

Chicken & Rice Soup with Glorious Garlic Chile Chips

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Rich and brothy with familiar flavors of home, this is a good-for-the-soul kind of delicious soup. It’s a simple and comforting recipe that I go back to repeatedly- a personal favorite which I’m excited to share with you.

This recipe is chicken soup for the soul. Earthy, filling and nutritious, it tastes like home. Like something grandma made. The soup has body and richness. And the finishing drizzle of chile oil with garlic chips will make your taste buds dance!

The flavor combination of ginger and dill is unique, and equally heavenly. The union of all the other ingredients create several layers of flavor. It starts with the punch of the sweet and spicy garlic chili chips in the first spoonful. Hello! A delightful top note, followed by the heart of the flavor accomplished by the unique harmony of ginger and dill. Finally, the lasting base notes of the magic created by the marriage of chicken and rice. All of the flavors thrive on this foundation of flavor, resulting in something great.

This soup is nutrient-rich- garlic, onion, ginger, kale, broth, and dopamine-spiking garlic chile oil. The garlic chips take a simple soup to an entirely new level. The aroma and textural contrast of the garlic gives complexity to the soup while the heat balances with the otherwise mellow flavor of the stock made velvety by the natural starches of rice. It is garliky, but, I love that, and hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Fair warming, its addicting and you may find yourself coming back to it over and over again too.

“Only the pure of heart can make good soup” — Beethoven


INGREDIENTS

  • 8-10 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 3 tsp. crushed red chile flakes (adjust to taste)
  • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 large white or yellow onion, chopped
  • 4-5 inches fresh ginger, chopped
  • 1 cup white rice, preferably basmati for added aroma
  • 1 1/2 – 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs
  • 3-4 big handfuls kale or spinach
  • 8 cups water, chicken or vegetable stock
  • 1 lemon
  • Handful of fresh dill
  • 2 tsp. kosher salt

    ~Note this is a large batch soup which makes about 8 servings. Opt for a half recipe if you desire a smaller portion. I like to make a big pot, enjoy it for dinner and have leftovers for a couple of days after. You can also adjust the heat levels and reduce chili flakes for less spicy results.

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Wash basmati rice 2-3 times until the water runs clear. Prep your veggies.
  2. For the garlic chile chips- Heat 1/3 cup olive oil to medium-low heat in the same large pot you’ll be making the soup in. Add garlic, stirring often, until light golden brown, 3–5 minutes. Pay attention to avoid burning garlic (it can happen fast!). Garlic will continue to cook in the hot oil after removing from the pan. Transfer to a bowl, leaving a bit of oil in the pot. Stir 2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes into garlic oil and set aside.
  3. Add ginger and onion to oil remaining in the pan. Add a bit more oil if pan is dry. Stirring occasionally, cook over medium heat, until onion is a light golden brown, 4-5 minutes. The kitchen will smell heavenly at this point.
  4. Pour your cooking liquid of choice into the pot. Add chicken thighs, rice and 1 teaspoon of salt to the cooking liquid and bring to boil. Then lower to a temperature to maintain a gentle simmer.
  5. Cover the pan partially and cook for about 15-20 minutes until chicken is cooked through.
  6. Once chicken is cooked through, transfer to a plate and shred the meat using two forks. In the meantime keep simmering soup uncovered to continue building flavor. The natural starch of the rice beautifully thicken the broth for silky and full bodied richness.
  7. Add shredded chicken back into the pot. Follow with adding a few generous handfuls of chopped kale into the liquid. Be even more generous if using spinach and stir to mix all ingredients. It will look like a lot of greens but they wilt down quickly.
  8. At this point add more broth or water if liquid has reduced too much. You can adjust based on the desired consistency you want. I prefer soup to be dense (not watery) for a rich end result.
  9. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced to the desired thickness, 4-5 minutes.
  10. Finally give the soup a nice squeeze of fresh lemon juice  and season to taste with more salt if needed. Stir to combine.
  11. Serve soup in bowls, drizzle with garlic-chile chips and fresh dill (it’s heavenly and “dill-licious,” trust me!).