Nancy was sick. She had a terrible cold, and when my wife is not feeling up to snuff, she wants soup. Naturally, I made a run to Kroger’s and loaded a cart with Campbell’s Tomato and Chicken Noodle Soup, but I also saw a butternut squash in the produce section that needed a home, and I bought it as well. I knew Nancy often ordered Squash Soup when it was on a restaurant menu and I decided to make a batch for her. Unlike some of my culinary experiments, this turned out really well.
Butternut squash is a highly underrated and most versatile vegetable. Each time I cook it, I ask myself why I don’t have butternut squash dishes more often. Then I remember why. Peeling a butternut squash is like skinning an armadillo. It is tough to do with an ordinary vegetable peeler. Dynamite would work better, but then your squash would be on the ceiling and not in a soup bowl.
But to make soup, you have to peel the squash first. I found it a little easier to cut the squash in quarters rather than to try to peel it whole, but once peeled, it’s downhill from that point.
Butternut Squash Soup
1 small butternut squash (about 3 pounds)
3 T Butter
1 Vidalia onion, chopped
2 Stalks chopped celery
3 T butter
6 C chicken stock
1/2-pint light whipping cream
Salt & pepper to taste
First step: Chop the peeled squash into one-inch chunks and boil in a saucepan until tender, for about twenty minutes.
In a large saucepan, sauté the chopped onion and the chopped celery in butter until soft. Next, add the chicken stock and boiled squash, onion and celery mixture along with salt and pepper and cook for about 20 minutes. In small batches, puree the soup concoction till smooth, and then back to the saucepan. Over low heat, add the cream and cook gently for about 5 more minutes. That’s it. Easy (after peeling the squash), rich and delicious.