Another soup — another recipe

After back-to-back nor’easters in my neck of the woods this weekend, the weather finally cleared yesterday and we’re back to more typical crisp Fall weather for a few days.

Which makes me want soup.

So, I was very excited to see butternut squash on sale last week and I nabbed it, along with a head of cauliflower. It appealed to the cheapskate in me, plus the soup from Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge is one of my favorites. (Here are two versions of the soup recipe from the chefs at the AKL — one and two) I’ve made these before using recipes at AllEars.Net and they weren’t the “taste memory” I had stored in my head, so I decided to play with it a little and came up with something I liked even better.

As I drove home yesterday, admiring the bright blue Fall sky, I knew that it was time to make that soup!

I started off by melting a tablespoon each of butter and oil in my largest enameled pot. Then I added the chopped onions, squash and cauliflower and let it cook down a little until it had slightly browned edges. The right amount of stock and about 20 minutes of cooking time and I had a nice soft soup that got good and smooth with a little use of my immersion blender. Then it was on to the spices — which was mostly an homage to two versions of Boma’s soup that I’d seen posted on-line, with some changes. I added the honey because it didn’t have the sweetness I remembered liking so much and it really played well against the curry flavor.

Butternut squash Soup

1 medium onion, chopped
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 butternut squash, skinned and cubed into 1 inch pieces
1 head of cauliflower, cored and broken into 1 inch pieces
32 ounces chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
2 Tablespoons honey
1/4 cup half & half

In a large dutch oven, melt the butter and oil and saute the onion, squash and cauliflower for 5-7 minutes, until the edges are brown and have begun to soften. Add the chicken stock and cover. Allow to cook until softened, about 20-30 minutes.

Using an immersion blender (or by adding a few cupfuls at a time to a blender), blend until the mixture is smooth, but thick. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add other spices gradually, according to your tastes. Finish with the half & half and serve.

I have to add that using freshly grated nutmeg is the most vital flavoring for me — not only are the little flecks an important visual element to the soup, the taste difference of fresh-grated to jarred nutmeg is astounding.

I had a lovely bowl of this last night and, even though my guys had spaghetti instead, I was in heaven with my soup.

Kenzie looked like she wanted some too!