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Thursday Recipe Exchange: Roasted Butternut Squash-Apple Soup
First some housekeeping – there will not be a recipe exchange next Thursday as I will be headed to the beach for some needed R&R.
On to today’s recipes. About this time of year I receive a number of requests for squash and sweet potato soup recipes. I have several: Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup, Sweet Potato Soup, Butternut Squash & Leek Soup and Winter Squash Soup (click on each for the recipes).
That brings us to tonight’s featured recipe. The base recipe came to me via an email. I looked over the recipe and thought it needed some punch. The first thing I did was roast the squash to help bring some depth to the dish. I added a little heat and finished with a splash of lemon juice to brighten everything when it was done. I don’t think of it as a stand-alone soup (like my very favorite Tomato-Spinach soup), but I think it would work well as a first course in any meal. I think it would be especially nice at a Thanksgiving table.
Roasted Butternut Squash and Spiced Apple Soup
- 4 medium butternut squash, halved and seeded
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 large apples – tart works well, but I used my neighbor’s backyard apples which worked great
- 1 tsp grated nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 12 cups (3 quarts) water or vegetable broth
- splash of lemon juice
baking dish, dutch oven or large saucepan
Put about 1/4 inch of water in the baking dish, put squash face down and roast at 375 degrees until it is easy to put a fork through the skin. Turn over and continue roasting until tender and squash are golden brown. About 30-40 minutes. You can turn the heat up after you flip them to brown them, if desired. Remove to cool.
Meanwhile, core and slice apples into about 1 inch pieces. No need to peel or get fancy with the dicing since this is a puréed soup. Melt butter in the saucepan, add apple, onions and sauté until apples are soft and onions are golden. Add spices and coat the apple mixture. Scrape squash from skins and add to the apples, add water or broth. You can use chicken broth, but to keep it vegetarian I used vegetable broth. Let simmer for 30 minutes, purée until smooth, heat an additional 5-10 minutes, adding water if necessary and add a splash of lemon juice just before serving.
You can use a blender or hand blender to purée the mixture. If you use a blender, add a couple of ladles of soup to the blender, cover and blend slowly to start, to keep the mixture from expanding too much. I’ve seen hot liquid blow the lid off…you don’t want that. Blend in small batches. With a hand blender, keep it immersed and again blend slowly, to avoid splattering the hot liquid.
Greek Chicken Wraps
Nothing beats a good Greek restaurant for a nice lunch meal. I am partial to pita sandwiches, but it can be difficult in my area to find good, fresh pita bread. So tortillas make a good substitute. In this recipe, you can use spinach or sun-dried tomato wraps to really spark things up. Regardless these are easy and quite flavorful wraps. Perfect for a holiday picnic by the lake.
Greek Chicken Wraps
- 4 boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1” pieces
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp Dijon or stone ground mustard
- 2 tsp crushed garlic
- 1 tsp dried oregano, crushed
- 1/8 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small cucumber, peeled & chopped
- 4 oz plain yogurt
- ¼ tsp dill
- 2 oz crumbled feta
- 2 oz sliced black olives (opt)
- 4 burrito size flour tortillas, spinach tortillas are a fun choice
- ½ green leaf lettuce, shredded
skillet & bowl
Mix together chicken, lemon juice, mustard, 1 tsp garlic, oregano & pepper in bowl, coating chicken thoroughly, let sit for 30 minutes. Prepare cucumbers, add yogurt, dill and remaining garlic and mix well. Refrigerate until served. Wrap tortillas in foil and heat in a 350° oven for 10 minutes, turn oven off and let them stay warm until served. Heat oil in skillet on medium-high and add chicken and marinade. Cook until chicken is cooked through, about 5 to 8 minutes. To serve, add chicken mixture, yogurt mixture, feta, olives and lettuce to each tortilla and roll up. Use any remaining yogurt mixture to dip tortillas in.
Mmm…Roast Chicken
Slathered the bird with a butter/EVOO garlic herb sauce, under the skin and on it. Roasted the bird on a bed of dressing. I thought it a fair idea but the chicken grease (and all that butter and oil) turned it into a greasy slop. I put the dressing under the broiler for a while to try to crisp the top some and that helped a little. I managed to eat a spoonful without gagging. The chicken was great!
Roasted some cauliflower while the chicken rested and made a lemony butter sauce (beurre blanc) that worked very well on the veggies and on the chicken.
Enjoy!
Zucchini-Avocado Salad
This is the time of year I start wanting fresh vegetables from the produce department and knowing my choices are limited where I live. But usually you can get fairly decent zucchini (choose small, thin ones
for best flavor) and avocados (though you may have to ripen them in a paper bag – add a banana to speed the ripening along). A nice light, fresh side to any dinner. I’m thinking with fish. I’ll post a nice fish recipe later this week.
Zucchini-Avocado Salad
- 2-3 small zucchini, sliced
- 8 green onions, sliced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 avocado
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ green pepper, julienned
- 4 oz can green chilies, drained
- green lettuce leaves
- Oil & vinegar dressing (bottled, or make your own: 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, dash of lemon juice, salt & pepper)
bowl, serving bowl, skillet
Heat oil and sauté onions & zucchini, about 3 minutes. Remove to bowl and refrigerate. Cut avocado in half, remove pit and cube, don’t pierce skin. Use a spoon to scoop out avocado, add to serving bowl, toss with lemon juice, add green peppers and green chilies, add zucchini mixture and toss everything with dressing. Serve on lettuce leaves.
