Butternut Squash and Roasted Garlic Bisque

This is a jumbo-yum soup that can easily be made vegetarian by subbing in vegetable broth for chicken broth. The longest part of it is the prep time, mostly because of all the peeling of squash and chopping of vegetables. In the penultimate step, a blender (either hand-held or pitcher) is very, very, very helpful. Otherwise, the whole thing is super easy and it makes a lot!

(BTW, if you like roasted garlic, you might as well halve another head of garlic and toss it into the oven with the called-for two heads. There are few things yummier than warm, roasted garlic cloves smothered on bread or crackers. Speaking of bread, you could probably throw a few croutons on top when serving the soup, in lieu of the cream, if so inclined. Lastly, I often totally omit the cream because it's just so darn yummy already.)


Ingredients
2 heads of garlic, halved crosswise
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 cup butter (1/2 a stick)
3 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
4 lbs butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 2 medium-sized squash)
6 cups canned low salt chicken broth
3-4 Tablespoons chopped fresh sage (depending on how much you like sage)
1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon heavy cream (optional)

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F. Rub cut surfaces of garlic with oil. Put halves back together to resemble heads. Wrap each tightly in foil; bake until tender, about 40 minutes. Cool garlic in foil.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a heavy, large pot over medium heat. Add onions, carrots and celery; sauté until onions are beginning to soften, about 5-8 minutes. Add squash, broth, and half the sage. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered until squash is tender, about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, unwrap garlic. Squeeze cloves from skin into a small bowl. Discard skin. Mash garlic with fork until smooth. Stir garlic into soup. Working in batches, puree soup in (pitcher) blender until smooth, or use the hand-held blender directly in the pot to the same effect. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Refrigerate uncovered until cold. Cover and keep refrigerated. Bring to a simmer before continuing.)

Before serving, rewarm and stir in 1/2 cup cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer soup to tureen. Drizzle with remaining 1 Tablespoon cream. Sprinkle with remaining sage.

Bon appetit!

OMG: Recipe Requests

So, Karen&Luke's party was so much fun! Thank you! Although all the food was jumbo yum, I'm compelled to request recipe posts for the following:

Karen's Sugar-Topped Yumola Cookies
Payal's Creamy Almond Dream
Ann's Toffee Delight

Payal, is your Creamy Almond Dream ever made using coconut milk? Just curious...

Also, Ann, you must must must (okay, please please please) post your recipe for the ginger snap cookies you served when you hosted book club... Speaking of book club, when are we doing that again, and what book is next?

Karen, thanks again for your super hostessing!

Pizza!

A creative way to put the residual veggies in your crisper to good use.
("Residual"? Really? I must have epi/biostats on the brain)

This particular pizza featured andouille sausage, onions, green and red ('tis the season) bell peppers, baby bella and oyster mushrooms, hatch green chile and mozzarella cheese.

Note: It would have been nice to have a pizza stone but this pan worked just fine.

Pizza Dough:
Ingredients: 3 1/2 cups flour
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons yeast
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

To Mix Dough by Hand:
Pour warm water into a bowl. The water should be about 85 to 115° F. Test it with your hand. It should feel very warm, but comfortable. Add the honey and salt . Mix by and hand (or any other method) until well blended. Add the yeast and mix some more. Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of flour and the olive oil and mix until well blended. Add the rest of the flour (and any other additions) and mix well. The dough should turn into a ball. If the dough does not ball up because it's too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does. If your mixture is more like a batter, add flour one tablespoon at a time. Adding water or flour as needed to get the right consistency will assure you always get a perfect dough. Just remember to do it in small amounts.

Once the dough is balled up, place the ball on a floured board and knead for about a minute. This builds the gluten which helps the dough to rise and become fluffy when cooked. Place the dough in a plastic grocery bag or a covered bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise.

After about 45 minutes the dough should have about doubled in size. Show it who's boss and punch it down. That's right, give it a good smack so it deflates. Let it rise for another hour to an hour and a half. The dough is now ready to be rolled out. You can punch the dough down one more time if you want and wait another hour or two before rolling out. The choice is yours.

This dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or so, or even frozen. Be sure to let it come to room temperature before using.

Snow Day Soup!

Snow is my favorite, so what better way to celebrate 3 inches of snow fall than making a Butternut Squash and Sage Soup with my favorite brewer and a 10 miles jog! Ok... so if running isn't for you I recommend the soup paired with delicious mushroom bruschetta (...and wine of course.)

Butternut Squash and Sage Soup

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion , chopped (about 2 cups)
2 butternut squashes , peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage , plus 8 to 18 leaves for garnish
4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper , to tasteVegetable oil, for frying

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent, 8 to 10 minutes. Add squash; cook 5 more minutes. Add chopped sage and broth; bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and cook until squash is very tender, about 30 minutes. With an immersion blender, puree soup until smooth (or puree in small batches in a food processor fitted with knife blade). Season to taste with salt and pepper.

In a small pan, heat 1/2 inch vegetable oil until hot. Drop sage leaves in about 3 at a time and fry until just crisp; remove to a paper-towel-lined plate. Serve soup hot, garnished with 2 or 3 sage leaves per bowl.

Butternut Squash and Sage Soup garnished with fried sage and goat cheese

Mushroom Bruchetta- Oyster, Portabella,& Shiitake Mushrooms with Goat Cheese

Earthy's booty... errr... bounty

I picked my winter CSA share today... Some pics, since I know y'all love your veggies.

Included in the booty was:

• kale
• cabbage
• red cabbage
• butternut squash
• onions
• potatoes
• sweet potatoes
• red leaf lettuce
• celery root
• beets
• parsnips
• carrots
• rutabagas
• purple-topped turnips
• heirloom corn

And, probably some other stuff I missed.