It's Butternut Soup Season, Motherfuckers

Ah!

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to get my hands on some fucking butternut, and make soup. That shit is going to taste so seasonal. I’m about to head out to the store right now to find that mutant squash fucker, peel and de-seed it, toss it in olive oil, and roast it just right. When my guests come over it’s gonna be like, BLAMMO! Check out my roasted butternut soup, assholes. Guess what season it is — fucking fall. There’s a nip in the air and my house is full of tasty fucking squash soup.

They set the clocks back this weekend past, and Thanksgiving is in sight. The summer garden is all but dead, and my toes are creaking at the prospect of frost. It's Roasted Butternut Soup season, mofos.

I'm from the nether-regions of the African continent, where butternut squash grows with abandon and every restaurant and household hoards a secret recipe for the sacred soup. At the intersection of the prevailing westerlies and trade winds, the vernacular cuisine of my hometown demands soft floral spices, particularly for autumnal fare (no fall down there).

This particular incarnation is culled from my mother's playbook. I turn up the curry and fruit for more of a full frontal flavor assault. It's pretty damn good, to be sure.

Kick back in front of the fireplace, turn up the Sade, and feel what it is like to be loved by a bowl.

With apologies (and due deference) to Colin Nissan for the intro, which is obviously plagiarized.

Ingredients

For the Soup

2 Tablespoons (30 ml) butter, or more

2 Medium onions large dice

~3 Cups (750 ml) butternut peeled, cleaned and diced (one whole average sized butternut)

1 Apple, roughly diced (preferably a cooking apple, such as Granny Smith)

3 Tablespoons (45 ml) plain flour

2 Tablespoons curry powder 30 ml)** 

4 Cups / 32oz (1 litre) chicken stock (vegetable stock if you must, but try not to)

2 Cups / 16oz (500 ml) milk

Zest and juice of 2x medium sized oranges (one very large orange should suffice) 

Feta and chopped chives for garnish

The in-laws are coming for dinner

** Obviously, the curry powder is critical. You don't want to kill the audience, so choose your poison wisely. I use the "father-in-law" masala from Atlas Spice Company in Cape Town. As the Atlas spice attendants will tell you "mother-in-law is spicy like fire; father-in-law is sweet". So get something not-too-hot. 

For the Garlic Bread

Half a baguette (or more, as you please)

2 - 3 Tablespoons of butter (leave near the oven to warm to, or above, room temp)

1 Clove garlic, finely diced

1 Sprig flat leaf parsley finely chopped (or cut with scissors - a fine technique)

1 Teaspoon capers chopped. 

Method:

Execution will require an immersion blender. Get one if you don't have one already. 

Preheat oven to 400'F (200'C)

Cut off the skin of the squash, scoop out the seeds with a spoon, and cube the flesh.

Arrange your cubed butternut on a baking tray. Season liberally with salt and pepper (like really, give it some S+P). Douse in olive oil and shake it about so that all the pieces are coated.

When the oven is heated, place the tray in the middle of the oven and set the timer for 30min. 

At the sounding of the alarm, check on the squash. I generally require more time at this point, for further preparation and for the sampling of beverages. If you're in the same boat, let the squash sit in the cooling oven. What you're ultimately looking for, is tender squash; stab it with a fork - it should give, easily. You also want some caramelization of the flesh, to add depth of flavor to the soup.

Dice and prep your other ingredients. 

On the stove top, combine the butter and a little olive oil in a heavy bottomed pot (I use my knock-off Le Creuset dutch oven, which - for inexplicable reasons - browns onions more effectively than our real Le Creuset DO). 

Melt the butter on a medium heat, and toss in the diced onion. Circa minute 10, add the diced apple. 

Fry until the onions soften and begin to brown (this can take up to 15-20min), stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

Hopefully by now, your squash is looking magnificent and has browned on the lower edges. Remove the squash from the oven and keep it close at hand. 

Now add the curry powder to the onion mix. Stir vigorously so as to prevent the spices from becoming noxious. Let it sweat for a minute or two, keeping an eagle-eye to ward off burnt curry flavoring. This should be your only moment of peak vigilance. 

Now add the butternut squash, flour and orange zest. Mix. 

Once the flour is mixed in, and you have avoided the pitfalls of lumpy soup, mix in the chicken stock. Stir. Add the milk. Stir some more.

Return to repose and sample a nice IPA, or mineral white wine.

Now turn up the heat, and bring the pot to a near boil. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 20min while you conquer the garlic bread. 

Fire up the oven to 400'F again. 

Whisk together your butter, salt, diced garlic, chopped capers and parsley (don't forget the salt, particularly if you are using unsalted butter, as you should).

Cut diagonally into your baguette to create pockets for the wondrous elevated butter.

Use a spoon or knife to spread the garlic butter into your incisions. Be generous in your apportionment.

Wrap the bread tightly in tin foil and toss it into the oven. Replenish beverages.

Check on it after 18 minutes. It should be looking fabulous. I like the bread toasted on the outside, so open the foil at this point and switch the oven from bake to broil. Keep an eye on things so as not to burn the bread after all your effort. Remove it from the oven, and allow it to cool sufficiently for you to handle it.

Return your attention to the soup. Turn off the heat. Brandish your trusty immersion blender, and eviscerate the veg into a wondrous soup.

Don't forget to test for seasoning. Add S+P to taste. 

Presentation:

To ensure victory, prepare your garnish. This time, I used crumbled feta (adds a nice saltiness in juxtaposition to the pronounced fruity flavors) and chopped chive (an autumnal survivor from the garden).

Decant the soup into bowls, garnish. Serve with the bread.

Bliss!