Butternut Squash Soup

Calorie Count: 2400 with cream, 2000 without

Ingredients

• 2 T olive oil
• 2 leeks (or a large onion), diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 1 butternut squash (2-3 pounds), peeled, seeded and coursely diced
• 2 waxy potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 or 3 apples, peeled and diced
• 2 T of ginger, peeled and minced
• a few garlic cloves, chopped
• a pinch or two of red pepper flakes
• 6-8 cups vegetable broth
• 1 C cream
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Over medium heat, sweat the onions, carrots, and celery for a few minutes with a hefty pinch of salt.
2. Add in everything else, stir and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add in the broth with a healthy blast of black pepper.  Bring to a boil, and then simmer 20 to 60 minutes depending on how lazy your dice was, until everything is cooked.
4. Add cream. Blend everything thoroughly with an immersion blender.
5. Serve warm with a blast of citrus juice to brighten.

Vichyssoise

Merry Christmas!  I got to try out my new stick blender today.  “Food Network” brand, feels pretty wimpy, but it definitely got the job done.  This potato and leek soup came out smooth and tasty. A classic vichyssoise has only leeks and potatoes, no fennel or bacon.  But why not add fennel and bacon? The stick blender makes it easy to puree the soup, which is very necessary for texture.  This would not be the same as a chunky homestyle soup.  I served it warm for dinner with a half-ounce of blue cheese melted in, but the classic presentation is cold as an appetiser.  I’ll have to try that tomorrow with some of the leftovers.

Calorie Estimate: 1400

Ingredients

• 1 lb leeks, sliced 1/4 inch rounds, white and green
• 1 lb yukon gold potatoes (or other waxy potato), coarse dice
• 1 fennel bulb, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, mashed
• 1 T butter
• 1 oz bacon/prosciutto/pancetta, diced
• 4-6 cups water (optional, and not necessary: chicken stock)
• salt (a few t)
• pepper (about 1-2 t)
• parsley or chervil (1-2 t dried, 2 T + garnish fresh)
• 1 cup heavy cream (could use less, could use half-and-half)
• optional, but awesome: 1/2 oz blue cheese per bowl

Alternate Version (1000 Calories)

• minus cream (I have my reasons!)
• plus parsnip
• 6 oz of bacon

Preparation

1. Over medium high heat, start to brown the butter and render the pork.
2. Add the leeks, garlic, and fennel, and sweat but don’t brown for a few minutes.
3. Add the potatoes and the water (enough to just cover completely) and bring to a boil, then turn to a simmer.  At a teaspoon or so of salt at this point and some black pepper.  Cook for about 30 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.
4. Take the soup off the heat and let it cool for a minute or two.  Add the cream and parsley.  Take the stick blender and blend until somewhat smooth.
5. At this point, adjust the seasoning.  I needed quite a bit of salt and some more pepper to make it pop, but that’s just me.  As you add seasoning, blend it a bit more, and keep tasting until it’s right.
6. If you’re serving it warm, an awesome tip I picked up from a comment in Mark Bittman’s blog Bitten is to place a small piece of blue cheese at the bottom the bowl.  It’ll rapidly melt, so stir it into the soup before you eat.  This adds a really nice touch of complexity that would otherwise be missing and really made the soup feel special.