A fellow blogger (he publishes Zack Shack) and friend has posted several recipes that have made my mouth water. Recently, Zack had a recipe for Brined Turkey Butternut Squash Soup that I simply had to try since I only recently learned how to cook winter squash.
To me, it seemed that the heart of Zack’s recipe was the use of lite creamed cheese instead of cream, which is what typical recipes call for. In checking around online, I noticed some additions that I had laying around that I wanted to use up: carrots and apples. I took that idea from this AllRecipes recipe: Butternut and Apple Harvest Soup. I combined those elements with elements of Zack’s.
I basically made a double recipe, based on Zack’s ingredients. So, I used the butter and olive oil he calls for, but double the amount. On the other hand, I only used 3 cups of veggie broth and 3 cups of water, plus two Knorr’s vegetable broth cubes, only half the fluids he calls for based on a double recipe. I used veggie broth instead of the turkey Zack calls for because I wanted to make it vegetarian this time.
I sauted the onions in the butter & oil, then added the diced apple and diced carrots. I cooked the butternut in the microwave, softening a well punctured squash for 6 minutes, halving it, and then fully cooking for 12+ minutes (it was a large one). I scooped out the meat and added it to the browning onions, apples, and carrots and finished browning them all.
At that point, as per the AllRecipes instructions, I added the fluids and boiled until all was soft. Then, I CAREFULLY ladled the mix into my (quaint 70s vintage) blender and pureed it all, a couple blenders-full at a time, returning it to the pan. I added the whole brick of creamed cheese, stirring and simmering until all the cream cheese was melted and well incorporated, blending it all again at the end.
For spices, I used “apple pie spice” (cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice) plus sea salt and white pepper to taste. This makes a soup that is an interesting mix of sweet and unami. As I eat it over the next couple weeks (I’ll freeze at least half), I’m going to experiment with adding other spices to increase the unami quality–maybe sage?
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Okay, that’s a definite improvement on my recipe! I look forward to adding some carrots, apples and spices to my next iteration. Thanks Hilton!
Oops, I forgot to mentioned that I used a fair amount of powdered ginger, too.
I’m discovering that, as the soup sits in the fridge, I’m needing to add additional broth each time I serve it. That means I should have stuck to your fluid quantities closer. The soup definitely thickens as it cools!