FoodB

I've been sick for 6 straight days now and have successfully gotten my wife sick. So with that in mind I had to make a menu for the week that included food that was: 1) easy to make and 2) comfort food. I figured that soup was a good bet but I'm really sick of the same old chicken/vegetable type soups that you find in a can. In comes Alton Brown to save us.

Squash Soup

6 cups (about 2 large squash) seeded 2-inch wide chunks butternut squash
Melted butter, for brushing
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus 1 teaspoon
1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper, plus 1/2 teaspoon
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
4 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon minced ginger
4 ounces heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Brush the flesh of the squash with a little butter and season with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper. On a sheet pan lay the squash flesh side up. Roast for about 30 to 35 minutes or until the flesh is nice and soft.
3. Scoop the flesh from the skin into a pot and add the stock, honey, and ginger. Bring to a simmer and puree using a stick blender. Stir in the heavy cream and return to a low simmer. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

I have to advise that if you make this recipe use a stick blender. If you don't have one, go out and buy one! I thought that I could replace the stick blender with my regular blender (which is usually true) and found out otherwise. I had to use the food processor to mush it up and then put it in the blender to puree it but the consistency of the squash doesn't work well with a blender. The results were still good but I now have a crap load of dirty dishes (that I don't want to do because I'm sick) and it added about a half an hour to the whole process.

That being said though the soup was really good and made up for all the extra work. I added a lot more nutmeg than what was asked for and I think it really helped. Jenn wished there were some pine nuts to go with it but since I'm allergic to nuts, I didn't miss them much.