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I love soups so we thought, after the French Onion Soup recipe which we tried previously, it was time to try another one (I had to give these guys another chance or two on soups). I was really interested in making this one as, back in April, I attended a friend’s birthday celebration at Fressen, a vegetarian restaurant here in Toronto. They had the most amazing Butternut Squash Soup, so I just had to learn how to make it myself. The recipe we were following is not vegetarian by any stretch of the imagination as it calls for chicken broth as the base. BTW I used an organic low sodium broth which I found to be the best if you are looking for a good low sodium option. Yes, that means more label reading and comparing the various brands. Memory is a funny thing because I know exactly where to go in the store to find it but not the name. [Helenka pipes in ever so helpfully: I thought it was PC Biologics.][Brian’s note – hmm no unfortunately the PC brand still had a high quantity of sodium] Another ingredient added to this lovely soup was bacon (so definitely not vegetarian). I should not be surprised any longer at what goes into various dishes these days to result in some terrific flavour combinations. Speaking of flavours, I used Helenka as a Guinea Pig before filming the show. We were playing around with some hot sauces (Sidebar Note: I think we need to to do a show just on spicy stuff). She explains a bit more what we were up to below.
Well, enjoy the soup because we certainly did (though it’s not quite like the Fressen one as they are famous for theirs, so I guess I will have to make another trip there). [Evil editor’s sardonic comment: “Oh what a hardship.”] [Brian’s comment : Well its a tough job but someone’s gotta do it 😉 ]
Have yourself a great week and let us know if you tried to recreate something you liked watching and/or reading!
Enjoy!
B&H =:)
Please note: We try and review the recipes in the cookbook; however, in an effort to respect copyright, we are not able to reproduce the actual printed recipes here. If you do have the book, please follow along with us!
Review: Butternut Squash Soup
Notes from the Chef’s Sidekick (Helenka)
Before our filming, Brian had already baked the butternut squash along with an extremely generous sprinkling of nutmeg as well as a titch of salt and pepper. He then sautéed some bacon, chopped onion and chopped apple. The onion, apple and ginger were added to the organic soup stock and squash before being puréed. When he plated it (bowled it???), he added the following garnishes: a drizzle of whipping cream (as we didn’t have The Book’s suggested non-fat sour cream), a dusting of cayenne and a spoonful of crunchy, crispy bacon in the centre. Go ahead. I dare you to ask me how good this was!
Mind you, I was suffering from blue!lips because I’d taste-tested three different hot sauces (chipotle, habanero and hot mango) before we began filming. And, then, I still preferred the cayenne, as per the suggestion from The Book. In any case, this was an exceptional comfort food for a day that wasn’t as warm as the previous day had been. The final lingering note on the palate was that of nutmeg. And I can’t imagine the soup having quite the same impact if Brian had not included the ginger. He made an excellent call for the inclusion of both as well as their proportions.
Brian made another wise choice to deviate from The Book (yes, we say we’re cooking and reviewing, folks, and we take the reviewing portion seriously). First of all, Brian saved himself the chore of transferring some; of the stock together with the squash, onion and apple into a blender because he merely added these three ingredients <u>into</u> the cooking pot and used an immersion blender. These gadgets are such a time-saver. But that wasn’t the only thing. Because Brian did the entire pot of soup, we ended up with a mixture that was almost completely blended. If we’d done it The Book’s way, there would have been a top layer of clear broth and we thought that would have been unappealing, both visually and to the taste.
By accident, we found that some of the diced apple had not been fully blended; so we thought that, the next time we make this soup, we should only blend half the apple and add the other half as a chopped garnish. Finally, Brian’s bold gesture with the nutmeg paid off. Otherwise, we feel the soup would have been a bit … timid. And, as we’ve already learned the hard way (see our review of French Onion Soup ), timid does not equal delicious food.
Variations
The Book gave several options for creating other puréed soups, adding the following ingredients to a chicken broth base:
white beans, chopped fresh rosemary;
canned tomatoes, half-and-half, chopped fresh basil;
sautéed mushrooms, half-and-half;
black beans, fresh lime juice, cumin and cayenne.
I find the last one especially exciting and vibrant because of the inclusion of lime juice. [::yells offscreen:: “Oh, Brian, can we make that one soon?”][::B yells back:: “Ok sure no problem lets set it up!”]
Although all of the soups above are intended to be heated, I can see the tomato and the black bean ones as refreshing chilled alternatives on a hot summer’s day.
Personally, I believe I have made some exceptional puréed soups over the last thirty-five years. Three (oops, make that four) in particular stand out. The first was a cream of chicken and vegetable soup without a hint of cream in it. I used to poach a whole chicken and traditional veggies in stock. After cooling and defatting the stock, I’d add the meat from the chicken and the veggies to it, then blend. It was a wonderful soup to have in the winter. Definitely comfort food. I used to keep quite a quantity of it in the freezer, in individual bowls.
The second soup (also chicken, but in a completely different presentation) included an ingredient that wasn’t ripe enough the first time I made it. I combined cooked chicken with chopped avocado and whipping cream before blending. The only problem was that my avocado was still hard. Was that enough to deter me? Why, of course not! I was determined to bend that avocado to my will. I just cooked it until it softened enough so that I could chop and blend it. This was a luscious, cold soup. A little rich because of the whipping cream, but definitely a taste of luxury!
The third soup was wild cream of mushroom with the mushrooms being gathered during the walks my friends (of the spur-of-the-moment pizza experience) and I used to take in the Annex. Of course, they were amateur mycologists (mushroom experts). And, hey, I’m still here! I’ve made the soup many times over the decades, though I’ve only used store-bought ‘shrooms.
The fourth is not technically a puréed soup, but I figure there are enough ingredients that do get smushed up (hee, unprofessional but very descriptive cooking terminology) that I’m counting is as one. When I purchased my Oster Kitchen Centre in the mid 1970s, it came along with a terrific cookbook and the recipe for Gazpacho in it is the best I’ve ever had. Why? Because the recipe calls for the inclusion of not only red wine vinegar, but also red wine. And, of course, all of the other yummy chopped vegetables, along with black olives (the California kind). Nothing better on a horribly hot day.
And I can’t believe I nearly forgot the most sensational puréed soup I’ve ever made in my life. It was for one of Brian’s and my “Holiday Extravaganzas”. I believe this meal included Lobster Américaine (whose sauce was made of equal parts sherry, brandy, whisky and cream – but that’s another extraordinary tale). The soup was cream of asparagus. After cooking the asparagus until tender in water, I snapped off the tough ends (I’d kept them on during the cooking process for additional flavour), then forced the stalks through a sieve with a spoon. It took me Three Hours of manual labour but it was so worth it. In fact, I judged my soup to be superior to the one I’ve had at Opus Restaurant on Prince Arthur. Mine tasted like cold, silken velvet. Of course, the fact that I’d garnished it with a dollop of crème fraïche and caviar merely enhanced its already divine status.
So, you’ve read what The Book suggests and some of the soups I’ve made. Don’t be afraid to take a chance on ingredients and seasonings. You may just end up amazing yourself and your guests!
Returning to the squash soup, just to end this post, I believe this was an incredible way to enjoy squash. Between the ginger and nutmeg, along with the onion and apple, The Book’s authors get two thumbs up (or else scraping the bottom of the pot to get the very last drop), but only because of our variations!
And one final addition. Since writing the review, I’ve found it simply too unbearably hot to shop or cook or eat or…. So I’ve been tackling my small mountain of canned food (mmmm, spicy peanut sauce on tuna or on scrambled eggs or….). One of the cans was Wolfgang Puck’s Cream of Butternut Squash Soup. What a coincidence. Or not. Well, it’s safe to say that I judge our soup to be much better as the overwhelming taste of Mr. Puck’s commercial contribution was more of chicken than squash.
Cooking time (duration): 120
Number of servings (yield): 4
Meal type: lunch
Culinary tradition: USA (General)
Microformatting by hRecipe.