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You are here: Home / Soups / Pureed Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

Pureed Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

January 10, 2016

Pureed Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

I’ve been on a roll lately. The past few recipes I’ve prepared have been stellar. I never knew I was capable to developing such flavor. I’m truly thankful for what I’m being taught.

In today’s post, I’m going to share a classic butternut squash soup recipe. The very first time I ever tasted butternut squash soup was when I visited my uncle’s house in upstate New York for Thanksgiving. I know, I’m ashamed to say this. I was probably around 25 years old. Where in the world have I been?

Anyway, I’ll always remember the velvety smooth texture and the intense flavor of that soup. It was utterly delicious. I believe he told me that he used a recipe from Williams-Sonoma. I did a quick search for this soup on their site and I found something here. For years, Laura and I have been making different variations of the same recipe.

As I mentioned in my previous two recipe posts, I’m in the midst of completing a trio of Steaming & Poaching pieces of wonder. My favorite, so far, has been the Poached Salmon with Herb, Honey & Caper Vinaigrette Recipe. That was to die for. I’ll surely prepare that dish again.

With each of the previous recipes, I used a different cooking technique. First, I steamed in foil packets. After that, I shallow poached and now, I full out steam. What I’m discovering is that steaming and poaching fish and vegetables is a really great method to maintain flavor in whatever it is that you’re preparing. In my opinion, it’s much more effective than boiling or traditional poaching because you lose very little flavor to the liquid you’re using. Today’s recipe is what really put me over the top. After steaming and tasting the butternut squash I used for this dish, I realized that it had kept almost all of its sweet deliciousness. I couldn’t have been happier. I encourage you to try this recipe out. It’s not all too involved and the ingredients won’t set you back at all.

Lastly, I’d like to give credit where credit is due. Like I mentioned above, this is the third and final recipe in the Steaming & Poaching course over at America’s Test Kitchen. I highly recommend this resource for learning how to cook.

Below, I’ll cover what you’ll need to complete this recipe and then I’ll talk about the steps involved in making it.

See also  Southern Indian Fish Curry Recipe by Gordon Ramsay

Ingredients

Serves: 4-6

4 Tablespoons (Half Stick) Unsalted Butter
1 Large Shallot
3 Pound Butternut Squash
6 Cups Water
Regular Table Salt
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
1 Teaspoon Brown Sugar
Pinch Ground Nutmeg


Step-by-Step Instructions

As I mentioned above, there really isn’t too much to this recipe. The essence of it is this: develop some very flavorful liquid, steam the squash with that liquid, puree the squash and liquid together and then add a bit of creaminess to your result. That’s it.

Chop Shallot

I know I mentioned this somewhere on this blog – I am falling in love with shallots. They’re mild flavor is working out extremely well in places I would’ve traditionally used onions. And their uniqueness shines through. I can truly taste them in every recipe I use them. It’s remarkable.

For this recipe, I chopped the large shallot. We took some photos of two of them, but please rest assured that I only used the large one. Not that using more than one would hurt at all. It’s just that the recipe didn’t call for two.

Two Large Shallots

I’ve got a new method for chopping as well. First, I slice lengthwise all the way through.

Slicing Shallots

Then, I cut vertically.

Chopping Shallots

And this is what I get. Some nicely and evenly chopped shallots that are really fun to photograph.

Chopped Shallots


Cut & Clean Butternut Squash

I’m going to tell you something here that I’m not sure is good or bad. Laura and I purchased a butternut squash about a week ago. It’s been sitting on our countertop since we got it. Now, I have no idea how long it takes for this type of squash to go bad, but what I do know is that the one I used for this recipe was extremely sweet. The shell was still firm, so I’m confident that it was fine to use, but I suspect that by having this piece of fruit sitting out for a week, we allowed it to sweeten up. I’m just putting that out there. I can’t seem to find any resource that corroborates what I’m telling you here, so if you have any experience with this type of phenomenon, please let me know.

Anyway, the squash needs to be cut into 4 pieces. To accomplish this, I first cut it lengthwise.

Halved Butternut Squash

After I had two large pieces, I cleaned out the stringy material, along with the seeds.

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Butternut Squash Seeds

Finally, I cut the two cleaned pieces in half vertically.

Butternut Squash

Melt Butter & Soften Shallots

This is where the flavor development begins. I added the butter, along with the chopped shallot to a large pot and heated to medium-low. The original recipe calls for using a Dutch oven and one of those collapsible steamers, but since I don’t have that type of steamer, I used the trusted pot/steamer setup that I already have. It made no difference.

Melting Butter & Softening Shallots

I stirred and cooked that mixture for about 4 minutes.


Add Squash Seeds to Pot

When that was looking good, I added the seeds and the other material that I scraped out of the squash earlier. I kept the same heat and stirred and cooked for another 4 minutes.

Butter, Shallots & Butternut Squash Seeds

I found this step to be interesting. I always knew that the stringy material added a lot of flavor to roasted pumpkin seeds, but never thought about adding the butternut squash equivalent to something like this.

Add Water & Bring to Boil

When the ingredients seemed to be coming together and started to smell nice, I added 6 cups of clean Maine water, covered the pot and brought to a boil over high heat. I happen to live in Maine, so I threw that in there. Use whatever water you have. I also added 1 teaspoon of regular table salt.

Adding Water to Mixture

Steam the Squash

When the mixture in the pot began to boil, I reduced the heat to medium-low and added the 4 pieces of squash to my steamer. When they were positioned the way I wanted them, I added the steamer to my pot and covered everything. I let them steam for about a half hour, or until they were tender.

Butternut Squash in Steamer

Once they were tender, I removed them from the steamer and let them sit out to cool.

Peel the Squash

It’s important to take this step only when the squash is cooled enough to handle. There’s little more annoying than playing hot potato with squash that burns your hands because of impatience.

The original recipe calls for scooping the flesh of the squash from the skin. I did that for the two lower pieces, but I generally find that to be a messy ordeal. For the two straighter pieces, I used my knife to cut the skin off. Here is the result of that.


Trimmed Butternut Squash

At the end, I had an entire plate full of soft orange material that tasted mighty fine.

See also  Sun Dried Tomato, Lentil & Potato Soup Recipe by Williams-Sonoma

Strain the Liquid

If you taste a spoonful of the liquid that’s been boiling, I think you’ll be taken aback by the flavor that’s been developed. It’s actually really good.

At this point, I had the plateful of squash and I needed the liquid strained. I used one of the Bellemain strainers I purchased this week and our glass bowl for the job.

Straining Squash Liquid

I had the larger material ready to be discarded.

Strained Butternut Squash Seeds

And I ended up with between 3-4 cups of liquid, which was perfect.

Squash Liquid in Bowl with Wooden Spoon

Puree the Ingredients

After I cleaned out the pot to prepare it for the return of the ingredients, I pureed everything together in our blender. It took two batches (probably should have taken three), but I did it.


Butternut Squash in Blender

After blending for a while, I found the mixture to be as smooth as butter. I poured what I had back into the pot.

Ladel of Butternut Squash Soup

Add Cream, Brown Sugar, Nutmeg & Butter

At this point, I knew I was rounding third and was almost home. I added the 1/2 cup of heavy cream, the pinch of nutmeg, the teaspoon of brown sugar and the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter.

Adding Butter, Cream, Nutmeg & Brown Sugar to Squash Soup

And I stirred together over medium-low until the butter melted and all the ingredients came together.

Stirring Ingredients into Soup

Finally, I salted to taste and added a bit of ground black pepper.

Final Product

I’m almost finished writing this post and Laura is still in the kitchen taking photos. Here is what I have of the finished product so far. It tastes very, very good.

Butternut Squash Soup in Bowls


And here are the two remaining final photos. If you do prepare this recipe, please report back here to let me know what you think.

Butternut Squash Soup with Parsley

Butternut Squash Soup with Spoons

——

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  4. Butternut Squash, Kale & Coconut Winter Chowder Recipe
  5. Hasselback Butternut Squash with Pecans & Maple Syrup Glaze Recipe

Filed Under: Soups

About Jay Gaulard

My name is Jay Gaulard and I'm what I like to call an "inexperienced chef," if that's not an oxymoron. I initially decided to immerse myself into the world of food and cooking in May of 2015, when I began growing, in earnest, my first garden. The garden produced a wonderful yield and with some newfound confidence, my hobby of learning about what I eat took shape. Currently, I'm enrolled in an online cooking school and am quite active with the culinary community. I primarily write posts about what I research and learn along the way.

Comments

  1. Natasha @ Salt and Lavender says

    January 12, 2016 at 12:19 pm

    This looks so smooth and delicious – love it!

    Reply
    • Jay Gaulard says

      January 12, 2016 at 1:36 pm

      Hi Natasha,

      It is! Funny thing just happened about an hour ago. We were in the grocery store buying ingredients for my next post and I saw some pre-packaged butternut squash soup. I swear it was about a cup worth. The price was $1.99. Of course, I quickly calculated how much money I saved (in my head) as I stood there in the aisle. Too funny.

      Jay

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Lemon Vinaigrette & Feta Spaghetti Squash Salad Recipe says:
    March 24, 2016 at 12:17 pm

    […] of our favorites, here in the household, is squash. Laura and I have always had an affinity for butternut squash, but spaghetti squash is a close second. While these two vegetables are quite distinct, their […]

    Reply

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