I always saw these uniquely formed vegetable in the grocery store but never felt exotic enough to buy one. I was actually scared of them!! Scared? Yes! Every recipe I found to use it made mention of cutting and peeling the butternut squash first. Have you ever tried to cut a butternut squash, let alone peel one?? Those things are ROCK hard!! Good 'ole Google told me a quick easy trick of how to accomplish that task. Since then, I have bought these things by the armloads!
So here's the recipe in pictures:
Ingredients:
1 Butternut Squash, peeled, de-seeded, chopped (don't worry, I'll share the trick I learned in a minute)
1 can of Evaporated Milk
1 onion, chopped
1 potato, peeled and chopped
2 TBSP of butter
3 cups of Chicken or Vegetable Broth
1 clove of garlic, sliced
1 TBSP of brown sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste.
Here's the trick to peel and cut through a butternut squash: You add it to a large pot of boiling water and let it boil for 5 minutes or more:
While it is boiling, chop the onion and potato:
Once the 5 minutes is up, let the butternut squash cool a minute or two and then peel, de-seed and chop:
Empty large pot from water and add butter:
Once butter is melted (medium-high heat), add the onion, potato and chopped squash:
Cook the above for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until it turns a bit brown (like roasted potatoes. Mind you, I hardly waited until they turned brown. Once 10 minutes was up, I moved on). Add garlic and stir for 1 minute longer. Then lower the heat to medium and add the chicken broth. Low boil it for 20-30 minutes or until the squash is soft:
Add brown sugar, salt, pepper and evaporated milk, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes longer on medium-low heat:
Ohhhhh, can't you just smell it??! No??! Scratch your screen then and sniff. I am sure you'll be able to smell it :o)
After the 10 minutes is up, ladle the soup into a blender and puree until smooth:
(if you don't have a blender, just mash it with a potato masher. It'll be just as good, just chunkier).
Serve in a big bowl with a dollop of sour cream (or without):
And in our house, if something tastes good, we are allowed to lick the bowl clean!! For your sake, I used my finger :o)
So all said and done, it'll take about an hour to make this soup, but that includes the 20-30 minutes of where it is just low boiling so you can do some other things.
But if you have a 3 year old and a 9 month old, do count on it taking at least 3 hours. I am sure if I didn't have to put one to bed, clean another's nose (wash hands), help with a toy, give some aid in the bathroom (wash hands), wake up baby, change diaper (wash hands), feed baby a bottle, and whatever else, I would easily have made this soup in under an hour. But it is SOOOO worth it because it is scrumptious and gets you in the Autumn mood, with the added bonus of your house smelling oh so yummy! So go! Try it!! And let me know if you've changed anything to improve on this recipe!
