The theme for the 8th week of Tessa Kiros' recipes at I Heart Cooking Club was "Orange Skies." More precisely, this is what was on the IHCC site for the week: "We will be making any Tessa Kiros recipes where orange-hued ingredients are featured in either a starring role or as part of a strong supporting cast."
I am always looking for excuses to make soup and I am always looking to try new variations of soups that I love. Orange? Great....Cream of Winter Squash Soup fits the criteria, hands down, I had my choice of recipe in short order.
This is a very good butternut squash soup recipe. The fresh chicken wing stock really makes a difference and brought a richness to the whole soup. I will make this again. One thing of note is that this is a very rich soup so a little goes a long way, make portions planning in that direction. Might need to make this again soon as I think I used up all my portions in the freezer since I made it in October (life has gotten in the way of my posting but not cooking, hence the late posting of Week 8, oops, and thank you for your patience). Definitely a repeat, orange food is so good for one...and so cheerful to look at while you are eating it!
Cream of Winter Squash Soup
Serves 6
Ingredients:
2 large chicken wings
9 cups of cold water
1 carrot, peeled and halved
1 small leek, trimmed and halved
2 cloves of garlic, peeled but left whole
small bunch of parsley
3 thyme sprigs
7 peppercorns
salt
2-3/4 pounds of winter squash
1-1/2 Tablespoons of butter
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
Put the chicken in a large saucepan with 9 cups of water and bring to a boil. Skim the surface well and then add the carrot, leek, garlic, parsley, thyme, and peppercorns. Season with salt. Bring it back to a boil, skimming off any more broth that comes to the surface. Lower the heat, cover the pan, and simmer for about an hour.
Strain the broth into a clean pan. (You won't need any of the solids here, but some chicken can be picked off and the vegetables can be chopped up, stirred through some rice and served with parmesan.)
Peel and remove the seeds from the winter squash, then cut it up into smallish pieces. You should have about 6 cups. Heat the butter in a large nonstick frying pan and saute the squash over fairly high heat so that it turns quite golden in places and starts to get a little soft inside. Tip it into the broth and simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes until it is soft all the way through. Puree with a handheld blender until it is completely smooth, and taste for salt. Add the cream, whisking it in a bit, and heat through, or swirl a little cream through each bowl. Serve with some brown bread and butter, and adults could add a small scattering of ground chili powder if they want.
