Visiting with some of my local foodie, pro foodie and chef friends yesterday yielded some recipes that I hinted at but didn’t post – there’s good news and there’s bad news – the good news is that the recipes are for butternut squash, which you all collectively seem to be ALL ABOUT.. the bad news is that both contain ingredients I’m not 100% keen on (mainly for digestive reasons, because you know we’re not afraid of dietary fat here at GiryaGirl.com) and haven’t had a chance to do a full test adaptation yet. That being said, I didn’t want to keep them from you in the mean time. BUT before that – a former chef from a VERY high end restaurant in my neighborhood (and constant source of celebrity sightings – Paul McCartney most recently) said that his favorite ingredient to pair with Winter squash is….
CRAB MEAT!!!!!!! I must have made a funny face because he was quick with a reason – the sweetness in the squash really brings out the sweetness of the crab meat – and as soon as I thought about it I realized he was right on the $$ about that. So, consider crab meat, a really great source of protein, when picking out items to stuff squashes, or to accompany squash. A great example of this is the first of the two recipes I wanted to share with you today – again, not keen on some of the dairy items in these, but that’s most likely my problem and not yours – I may try a version of both with coconut milk or better yet, coconut cream instead of heavy cream or the package of cream cheese – soooooooo without further ado –
Butternut Squash Crab Bisque
by Charlie from Williams Sonoma, Park Ave
Ingredients:
- 1 Jar Williams Sonoma Butternut Squash Puree*
- 1 large onion, minced
- 1 bunch celery, chopped small
- 1/2 stick butter
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 1/2 jar Paul Prudhomme’s Seafood Seasoning**
- 1 can chicken broth
- sherry (optional)
- 2 cans lump Crab Meat, or one of the giant Blue Star crab meat cans from Costco or Lombardi’s
Directions:
In a large soup or stock pot, sautee the onions and celery in the melted butter. Add in the squash puree, cream, chicken brothe and seasoning – stir until fully combined and heated through. Rinse and drain the crab meat, carefully removing any shells (they always miss a couple) then add to the bisque – simmering gently until everything is piping hot.
Further down the ave, at the Spice and Tea Exchange, home of the new Autumn Blend spice combo mentioned yesterday, yet another recipe for butternut squash soup appeared! Again a few things in there that I would swap out, personally – and will get around to doing a rework soon – but there’s only so much butternut squash soup I can eat in one week, you know? And minor confession… unless we’re talking beef stew, or borscht, I’m actually not all that crazy about soup. Darn… now I’m thinking about borscht…. ok ok next week… gotta focus on the squash this week.
Creamy Butternut Squash Soup
by The Spice and Tea Exchange and Holly Luisi, the Bohemian Baker
Ingredients:
- 1-2lbs butternut squash, peeled, cubed and steamed until soft*
- 1 medium sweet onion, chopped
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 cups water
- 4 chicken bouillon cubes***
- 2 Teaspoons Spice and Tea Exchange Autumn Blend
- 8oz Cream Cheese
Directions:
In a medium skillet, melt the butter and saute the onion until tender/crispy, puree the squash and cooked onions together and combine in a 3 quart stockpot. Dissolved the bouilon cubes in the 2 cups of water and add to the pot along with the Autumn spice blend. Cook on medium heat for 30 min. Ladle a little of the soup into a blender with the cream cheese and blend until fully combined – add this mixture back to the soup pot and stir to combine and reheat. The soup is now ready to serve.
And if you’re too lazy to make your own butternut squash soup (shame on you) the newly re-opened Barnies Coffeekitchen has one available at lunch that features a toasted pumpkin seed oil drizzled on the top. Apparently it’s getting rave reviews.
*Another quick source of pureed pre-cooked squash thats fab for soups is the Cascadian Farms organic frozen butternut squash puree available from Whole Foods or your local upscale grocer.
**I have no idea what is in this particular spice blend – but ate at Chef Prudhomme’s restaurant back in the early 1990s and it was quite good.
*** Watch the sodium on these – I would prefer to use chicken stock – but again, I haven’t adapted these to meet my draconian recipe standards
One last thing – if you haven’t already signed up for the official GiryaGirl.com newsletter, please do! The free paleo recipes I send include a couple winter squash features – and they’re written in Euro-English so you can be amused at words like pumpkin (butternut squash), courgette (zucchini), and aubergine (eggplant). Check that out here: Manage Newsletter Subscription
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