Lynne Rossetto Kasper’s Butternut Skillet Soup

"As Lynne explains in the notes accompanying this recipe, cooking this Butternut Squash Soup in a large sauté pan saves time and intensifies the flavours; and “browning the onions supplies the bold foundation you need with sweet ingredients like squash”. A really delicious soup, I have made several times and have always enjoyed, as have family members and friends whom I’ve served it to. I have always made this soup exactly to the recipe (I wasn’t even tempted to add more garlic as I do with so many recipes!) because Lynne’s recipes are always so good and I trust them totally. I’ll be interested to know what changes Zaar chefs will make. I have posted this recipe here - together with Lynne’s fabulous tips – exactly as I received it in "The Splendid Table” newsletter. Subscription details are available online."
 
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Ready In:
1hr 25mins
Ingredients:
14
Serves:
8-10
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ingredients

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directions

  • In a 12-inch sauté pan, heat the oil over medium high.
  • Stir in the onion, salt and pepper.
  • Sauté until golden.
  • Stir in garlic and all the thyme. Cook 30 seconds.
  • Blend in vinegar, scraping up the brown glaze from the bottom of the pan. Boil down to nothing. Do the same with the wine.
  • Blend in tomatoes.
  • Cook 2 minutes.
  • Add squash and broth.
  • Bring to a gentle simmer over medium low heat.
  • Cover and cook 30 minutes, or until squash is tender.
  • Taste for seasoning.
  • Cool a little, then puree half the soup in a blender.
  • Pour it back into the pan. Set aside up to an hour at room temperature, or refrigerate up to four days.
  • Blend together the topping’s lime peel, juice, and garlic.
  • Just before serving stir in the herb leaves.
  • Reheat soup to bubbling.
  • Taste again for seasoning.
  • Sprinkle topping on each serving.
  • LYNNE'S TIPS
  • Kabocha is a winter squash. Its dark green rind is streaked with pale green and the orange flesh is sweet when cooked. As with all squash, select ones that are firm and heavy for their size. Cut in half and remove the seeds before baking, steaming or using in soups.
  • The wide, shallow surface of a big sauté pan encourages faster sautés and cooking. Because you can reduce quantities quickly in a big, wide pan, you intensify flavours in a matter of minutes. If you boil down a soup in a deep pot to enrich it, it takes longer and flavours don’t stay as fresh.
  • Fast-browned onions supply the bold foundation you need with sweet ingredients like squash. (Slow browning creates caramel-like sweetness).

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Reviews

  1. I thought this sounded really interesting but was completely disappointed. I couldn't even eat the soup it was so off. My husband thought it was a bit better but still weird. The tomatoes totally didn't fit in this dish, it made the soup taste like squash soup plus ketchup. Ewwwww. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I have made a few squash soup recipes I've made where you use evaporated milk or coconut milk in place of the tomatoes in basically the same recipe and those rock. This one not so much. My husband asked me what to do with the leftovers and I told him to throw them out and we never throw out food.
     
  2. When you think of butternut squash soup, the spices the usually come to mind are cinnamon, allspice and ginger. So the idea of trying a more savory approach to the versatile gourd really intrigued me. I made this as presented (using a bit less oil) using the cilantro instead of basil. At the point where I added the broth, I did have to transfer everything to a soup pot as my skillet was overflowing. The soup was heavenly. The seasonings were just superb and the way the flavors got stacked one on top of the other came together beautifully in the final dish. Moreover, it reheated really nicely and each day it just got better and better. Next time I want to add a slightly larger squash so I can enjoy more chunks in the soup. The cilantro gives this a somewhat Mexican flair but I'm looking forward to trying it with basil which reminds me of the dishes of Chile and South America. Thanks bluemoon.
     
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Tweaks

  1. I thought this sounded really interesting but was completely disappointed. I couldn't even eat the soup it was so off. My husband thought it was a bit better but still weird. The tomatoes totally didn't fit in this dish, it made the soup taste like squash soup plus ketchup. Ewwwww. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I have made a few squash soup recipes I've made where you use evaporated milk or coconut milk in place of the tomatoes in basically the same recipe and those rock. This one not so much. My husband asked me what to do with the leftovers and I told him to throw them out and we never throw out food.
     
  2. When you think of butternut squash soup, the spices the usually come to mind are cinnamon, allspice and ginger. So the idea of trying a more savory approach to the versatile gourd really intrigued me. I made this as presented (using a bit less oil) using the cilantro instead of basil. At the point where I added the broth, I did have to transfer everything to a soup pot as my skillet was overflowing. The soup was heavenly. The seasonings were just superb and the way the flavors got stacked one on top of the other came together beautifully in the final dish. Moreover, it reheated really nicely and each day it just got better and better. Next time I want to add a slightly larger squash so I can enjoy more chunks in the soup. The cilantro gives this a somewhat Mexican flair but I'm looking forward to trying it with basil which reminds me of the dishes of Chile and South America. Thanks bluemoon.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

July 2008 update: VERY happy to be back on Zaar after about a two year absence due to having had no internet connection at home, and having been too unwell for a time so that getting re-connected wasn't even a priority! <br> <br>And really looking forward to getting back into the Zaar world and connecting again with the many wonderful people I knew before, and new people, of course!
 
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