Butternut Squash Super Soup

 

Like all thinking people, I have my prejudices.  They’re special.  I treasure them.  That’s particularly true with food.  I regard health food as a waste of good manners and a grand reason to embrace fasting, with starvation as a viable alternative.  

 

So when the bell of hunger tolled loudly at the famishing hour of 3 p.m. my first, second, or third thought was not the local heath food store.  I pictured dried tofu dressed up as impoverished chicken fingers, a gluten-free waste of the baker’s art, and plates of salt free kale braised with raw cabbage juice, with Saint Nibbler, the patron saint of emaciation, chuckling with glee.

 

However, my great hunger, and addled brain ravaged by a lack of sustenance, and a further lack of all alternatives, drove me to swing into the parking lot of a health food store.

 

Yes, the menu echoed my every prejudice and then I spotted butternut squash soup.  I like butternut squash, and prayed it hadn’t been sautéed with milk of goat-weed, or the bark of the monkey pod tree.

 

As you may or may not know, butternut squash is also known as butternut pumpkin in Australia and New Zealand.  After all, it is the same family as what we call pumpkin.  Another name for butternut is crook necked squash.  

 

This squash’s natural home is in the heartland of Argentina, near the Andes.  Well, I thought, what’s good enough for the indigenous people of the  Andes….

 

I must admit, the butternut soup was not a good choice.  It was a superb choice! Silky smooth and with flavor galore, I forgot all about my hip flask of Spanish brandy and concentrated on my agile dexterity with a spoon.

 

After lunch, I strolled up to the chef, who was working away on eye of newt and muskrat melon, and asked if I could have the recipe.  He eyed me cautiously.  “Yes, but first you must fill out a comment card and include words like Stupendous, Handsome, the flower of manhood, would rather eat his food than chase willing women.” 

 

Hey, no problem.  I can lie with the best of them! But, it’s been a while.  What exactly is a willing woman?

 

On to the matter of delicious, tongue-tantalizing soup.

 

Ingredients:  (Butternut squash comes in a variety of sizes, so you may have to adjust the ingredients.)

 

1 mid-sized butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 inch cubes

1 sweet onion, chopped

2 stalks of celery, thinly sliced

1 large carrot, or a handful of baby carrots, chopped

4 cups of either vegetable or chicken stock (I used chicken)

Salt, pepper

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup (or more) heavy cream

1 cup of shelled and salted pumpkin seeds

¼ cup olive oil

 

Spices according to taste, but start with these, then add more if it suits you:

1 teaspoon each: cinnamon, ground cloves, nutmeg, 

 

Puttin’ it together:

Put the vegetables in a large stew pot with a lid, and pour in the chicken or vegetable broth.  Place the pot over medium heat, cover and bring to a boil.  Turn it down to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are soft.

 

Add the salt and pepper and spices.  Mix thoroughly.

 

Use an immersible blender, or standing blender to blend to a creamy consistency.  Now add the heavy cream and stir.

The final touch:  fry the pumpkin seeds in the olive oil.  When you serve the soup to your ravenous guests, add a spoonful of oil and pumpkin seeds on top.  I warn you, when you serve this soup, you may get proposals of marriage.  Offer glasses of white wine instead.  It’s less expensive.