Spicy butternut bisque
We bought a gigantic butternut squash at the winter farmer’s market last weekend. And we had leftovers which everyone was tired of. They still made up about as much as a normal size squash. So I had a hankering for a spicy butternut squash bisque. I made up this recipe, after looking at a bunch of recipes online. They all looked interesting, but not complex enough. So I daringly threw everything into the pot, hoping it would work and not overwhelm. It was magical. I loved the warmth the ginger, aleppo pepper, and garlic gave it. I loved the herbal earthy aromas of the sage, thyme and rosemary. It was warm and mellow. And three out of five children ate some. All measurements are estimates. I didn’t actually measure anything at all.
Ingredients
1 yellow onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 butternut squash, roasted, cut into roughly 1 inch chunks
1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (or 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes)
1 quart chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine
1 bay leaf
1 tsp thyme, ground
1 tsp rosemary, ground
1/2 tsp sage, ground
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch fresh nutmeg
1/2-1 cup heavy cream
olive oil
salt
Directions
1. Heat olive oil in big dutch oven over medium-high, sautee onion, carrot, celery until soft and starting to brown.
2. Add garlic and stir for about a minute. Add aleppo/red pepper flakes, stir.
3. Add white wine then add chicken stock. Toss in herbs and spices except for nutmeg, that goes in at the end.
4. Add butternut squash.
5. Simmer for at least 20 minutes. It can go for longer if you want.
6. Turn off heat. Fish out bay leaves.
7. Puree soup with immersion blender, or ladle it into your blender and puree until smooth.
8. Add heavy cream and pinch of fresh ground nutmeg. Stir and serve hot with a nice crusty bread.
