Autumn

Stephanie Sue — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:31:00 +0000

Lunch at my desk

Stephanie Sue — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:44:09 +0000

Entertained myself trying out a new iPhone photo ap.

Languid Labor Day

Stephanie Sue — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:30:43 +0000

Butternut squash soup with browned butter, cooked in a Tagine

Stephanie Sue — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 21:00:53 +0000

Today we enjoyed a tremendous butternut squash soup that nearly didn’t happen. We didn’t have a couple of my typical ingredients and it was only at the last minute that I decided to wing it with what I had on hand.

Today’s recipe is my own but is based loosely on the number of times I have cooked Baked Winter Squash Soup from Julie Rosso and Sheila Lukins’ book The New Basics.

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut squash
1 acorn squash
2 Russet potatoes (or, if you’ve got it, one medium / large sweet potato)
2 small yellow onions
1 small red bell pepper (added at the last minute because the whole set looked a little monochromatic to me)
3 14 oz cans of fat free, sodium free chicken broth
sprig of fresh oregano or other herb of choice
1/4 cup of butter
~1/4 cup brown sugar loosely packed
scant 1/4 tsp chipotle chili powder or more to taste
Olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

The approach:

Peel the potatoes and squash and dice into 1-2 inch squares. Dice the red pepper. (I typically gauge the dice by the size of the first knuckle on my thumb) Place into a dutch oven, or if you’ve got one: a tagine.

Drizzle with 1 -2 TBSP olive oil to coat all the veg. Season with freshly ground pepper and about two teaspoons Kosher salt. Add half a can of chicken broth.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for an hour, or until all the veg is steamed through. You want it to be very tender. Let it all cool for a bit as blending thick, hot soups can be painful or even hazardous if you end up with a spill.

While the soup cools, prepare the browned butter by melting the butter in a sautee pan. Add 2 – 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and chipotle chili powder to taste. Cook on medium heat until the butter has stopped foaming and the sugar is just beginning to melt and caramelize.

(Note: this entire step was a happy accident – I’d realized after the veg were cooked that I’d forgotten the butter and chili powder. This step was my improvisation to try and save the day – it turns out, in my opinion, to be what really makes this recipe!)

Blend the soup in batches adding chicken stock to help it all puree.

Make sure to add the browned butter to one your blender batches – you may need a rubber scraper to get all the sugary yum yum off your sautee pan.

I like my soup nice and thick and so only added just enough broth to get the veg to cooperate with the blender.

Heat the soup gently on your cooktop to bring it back up to temperature and serve.

Sweet Pepper

Stephanie Sue — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:00:37 +0000

I love the pretty yellow color barely showing on the corner of the center pepper

Windowsill

Stephanie Sue — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 17:23:28 +0000

Breakfast

Stephanie Sue — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 08:30:49 +0000

Priceless is…

Stephanie Sue — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:09:12 +0000

Having your daughter tell you no less than THREE times that she’s having the best birthday party she’s ever been to.

Perched

Stephanie Sue — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:30:35 +0000

Could Not. Nope. Not possible. Never happen…

Stephanie Sue — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:24:11 +0000

Absolutely positively no way I could love this guy any more than I already do.

He’s going to be 10 in a coupla weeks; the thought of it nearly stops my heart.

He’ll always be my squishy, huggy, silly, sweet, deep thinking baby.

Living larger than life in his spider-man socks.

Stephanie Says