"Fall into Autumn" Sage Butternut Squash Soup

My back-to-school presents to myself are all-- with the exception of a new laptop-- gadgets for my (already well-stocked/decked-out) kitchen. Some are long-due and obvious (like my new cheese grater); others are purely self-indulgent, like my new KitchenAid standmixer (it's so lovely! Will blog about it later) and *dramatic drumroll* my new immersion blender.

What is an immersion blender? It's a nifty little gadget that essentially allows you to blend things straight in their containers or pots. This saves you the time and hassle of transferring (and later cleaning the various containers) ingredients and liquids repeatedly. It can also handle a pretty sizable volume in a matter of minutes.

In short, it is magic. In a stick.
(Seriously, I'm writing about cooking here. The things that get me excited... )

And this soup is magic. In a bowl.
(Seriously, I'm writing about cooking here. This should get you excited... )

Sage Butternut Squash Soup

Either this soup is chicken, or it is egg. What I mean by that is-- it's hard to say what came first: my desire to own an immersion blender, or my desire to eat (make) butternut squash soup. What's even stranger is that I can't even say I've ever had butternut squash soup before. I'd just looked at some recipes and pictures and thought it had the potential to be amazing.

And I think I was right :)

But first, a cheatsheet:

Things to Know about
Butternut Squash (Non-
Exhaustive)

1. They're funny-looking. (See Exhibit A , to the left.) They're also considerably larger and definitely heavier than I thought they would be-- the average squash seems to be about 1-1/2 lbs.

2. They're actually fruits, not vegetables. I want to pretend that this explains why butternut squash is slightly sweet, but, of course, it doesn't at all. It just means that the actual squash develops from a "flower"-- and that the squash's seeds are contained within its body.

3. Usually, people peel and deseed the squash, then cook and eat its flesh, but both the skin and the seeds are actually edible, if prepared correctly. The easiest way to soften the skin up enough to eat is to roast it; the seeds can also be removed and roasted, much like pumpkin seeds.

4. They're a little tricky to cut up:
a. I have a great set of knives, but not much upper-body strength, I guess-- it was a bit of an effort to slice through these things.
b. The flesh is very starchy and seems to get worse with oxygen, as far as I can tell. I removed the stalks off both squashes, but one had to sit while I struggled with its sister. After a while, the exposed flesh of the idle one bubbled up. My hands, also, dried with a weird puckering all over them, one that remained stubborn even through multiple washes with handsoap. I thought it was the excess starch because, upon more vigorous scrubbing and closer inspection, I could see that the substance was kind of chalky and dry-- and tinted slightly orange.
c. A quick Googlesearch, however, told me that this is a known "condition"-- a known allergic reaction to butternut sap called "butternut dermatitis" by researchers. It doesn't affect everyone the same way, but wearing gloves should solve the problem.

5. But seriously, don't let this deter you. Butternut squash has a really nice, sweet, and-- well, nutty-- flavor, and it's pretty versatile, too. (Chefs are putting it in everything these days, even bread pudding-- maybe because it sounds so fancy!)

The recipe featured in this post is Giada De Laurentiis's and extremely easy. The hardest part, by far, is the prepwork. But it's not that you have to do an elegant job of slicing or dicing the vegetables (after all, everything gets pureed eventually)-- it's that it's time-consuming, given the squash's characteristics.

Also, don't be put off by the use of sage. It's not overpowering at all, not even in the crostini. It really just adds a different flavor dimension to the subtle sweetness of the butternut squash. That's what's so amazing about this recipe: the flavors are complex, but carefully balanced. If you want a sweeter or spicier taste, I'd recommend adding just a pinch of either nutmeg or allspice (or both), but it's pretty good as is.

So go ahead, jump on the butternut squash bandwagon. Stock up and fall into [love with?] autumn.
(This soup can even be frozen and kept for a few months without losing flavor :) Bonus!)

The "Fall into Autumn" Recipe (Butternut Squash Soup with Fontina Cheese Crostini... Croutons - Slightly Modified; Recipe here, Courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis, Food Network)

Ingredients:
Butternut Squash Soup:
2 tablespoons salted butter (room temperature)
2 tablespoons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil ("EVOO")
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
3-1/2 lbs. butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 3/4-inch pieces (This should come out to approximately 8 cups. I used two full squash and definitely had more than enough-- yum!)
6 cups low-sodium chicken stock
1/4 cup chopped fresh sage leaves (I bought one of those little plastic packages from the grocery store and used up all of it here and for the crostini, below)
Kosher (or regular) salt and freshly ground black pepper
pinch of nutmeg (optional)
pinch of allspice (optional)

Sage and Olive Oil Crostini Croutons:
1/2 baguette, sliced diagonally into 1/2-inch thick slices
EVOO, for drizzling
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage leaves
1 cup (2 oz.) grated Fontina or Smoked Gouda cheese
sea salt

1. Add the butter and the EVOO to an 8-quart stockpot and melt together over medium-high heat. Add the onion and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds.


2. Add the squash and the chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a boil and add the sage.



3. Continue to boil until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Turn off the heat. Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture until smooth and thick. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add pinches of nutmeg and/or allspice, if desired. Keep the soup warm over low heat.

* As a note, it is possible to make this soup without an immersion blender:

Wait for the mixture to cool a bit, then add it, bit by bit, to a regular blender. After each batch is properly pureed, put it back into a stockpot and reheat.

4. For the crostini croutons:
a. Put an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
b. Arrange the bread slices on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sage. Sprinkle the cheese on top and season with a pinch of sea salt.
c. Bake until the cheese has melted and the bread is light golden, about 6 to 8 minutes.
d. After removing the crostini from the oven, wait about 5 minutes for it to cool, then cube into your very own homemade croutons!

5. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the cheese crostini croutons.

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."
George Eliot