Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Recipe #31: Butternut Squash Soup with Apple and Bacon



I’m just going to pretend like I didn’t set that goal last year of cooking a new recipe each week and pick up right where I left off (truth be told, I probably did come close to achieving the goal, but fell short in posting about it regularly).

I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of butternut squash, on its own at least, but when I saw this combination of bacon (makes everything better) and apple, I thought it was definitely worth a try. I only recently saw this recipe again in my files and thought I should make it again soon – it was that tasty! It’s still soup weather, and leftovers are great to bring to work the next day (or two). If you’re looking for a quick weeknight dinner, this one calls for only a few ingredients and cooks up pretty quickly. The sweetness of the apples combines so nicely with the saltiness of the bacon, that this really is a nice dinner treat.

To vary this dish, you could try adding extra ingredients of your own. An onion and garlic added while browning the squash will give it added flavour, maybe even a dash of curry for some heat. You could also substitute beef stock over chicken or vegetable for a deeper flavour. And feel free to double the bacon if you like extra topping.

Serves: 6-7
Cook time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS
8 slices bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch strips
2-1/2 lb. butternut squash (about 1 medium), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch dice (to yield about 6 cups)
1 small Granny Smith or other tart-sweet apple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch dice (to yield about 1 cup)
1-1/2 Tbs. finely chopped fresh sage leaves
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 cups low-salt chicken or vegetable broth

DIRECTIONS
In a 5-quart or larger stockpot set over medium heat, cook the bacon, stirring occasionally, until crisp and golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels.

Increase heat to medium high. Add the squash to the pot with the bacon fat and cook until lightly browned, 4 to 6 minutes (resist the urge to stir it too often or it won’t brown). Stir in the apple, sage, salt, and pepper and cook for about 4 minutes (you’ll see more browning occur on the bottom of the pot than on the vegetables). Add the broth, scraping up any browned bits in the pot with a wooden spoon. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, and cook until the squash and apples are very soft, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool somewhat.

Add about half the bacon to the soup and purée, using a stand or immersion blender (you’ll need to work in batches if using a stand blender). Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. Reheat the soup and garnish each serving with the remaining bacon.

Friday, March 02, 2012

Happy New Year!



What, it’s March? Oh, so I’m only a few months behind on the update. It sure has been a busy start to 2012, though, but I it sure is time that I checked in with an update and a post.

Where to start? Well, Christmas came and went, and good times and good food were had by all. And when we weren’t busy buying and wrapping gifts, we were looking for a new house. And we found one! Well, that’s an understatement. We found a lot that we liked. What I should have said, is we bought one, which was no easy feat. We were out of town when offers were being presented, so we had to stop at a payphone next to the highway in the pouring rain to hear how the home inspection went (good thing we have a home inspector we trust!), and then give our agent the go ahead.  It was a quiet ride the rest of the way as we waited to hear how it went. The anticipated phone call could have gone two ways – we lost it, or we got it. Luckily it was the latter.  

Next, we had to sell the condo, which meant putting a lot of our stuff in storage and staging the small 600 square foot place to appear as big as possible. Thank goodness for Lunch Buddies (thanks Jess, Andrew, Owen, and Darcy)!  Frankly, it worked. Even I was fooled. The place looked amazing, and we were able to let out a huge sigh of relief once we signed the paperwork – our condo was SOLD.

As we started the New Year, things were pretty quiet as we waited for our closing date to approach. We slowly packed up the rest of our stuff from the condo and enjoyed our time living downtown. The new place is in the east end of Toronto, a really neat area of town, and we were getting excited about all the great restaurants and places to eat.

Soon January was over and February was breezing by. The 15th was only a few days around the corner, and that’s when we’d get the keys to our very own home - a small but very nice 3 bedroom house. We weren’t closing our condo until the 29th, so that left us some time to get in there and do any updates without having to work around furniture. We wanted to do some painting to in the bedrooms, but the rest was pretty much move-in ready.

In anticipation, we picked colours, bought paint and supplies, and recruited some valuable hands to help – my dad and brother.  Once the 15th arrived, we got the keys and headed over to take a look around. It sure looked a lot different empty, but that meant it was full of potential. We went back most nights that week with small boxes of stuff from the condo, and I’m sure we are now considered regulars at the Canadian Tire, but things were coming together. That weekend, we cleaned and painted and got everything ready for the rest of our stuff. We weren’t going to be staying in the new place until we moved our bed over, and that was going to happen on the 29th.

The big move finally came, and with some additional helping hands (thanks Jen, Paul, Chris, and Binu!), we gathered the remaining furniture from the condo and picked up the rest at the storage locker. Having only been there only a week, there are still boxes to be unpacked, but we have a bed to sleep in, a TV to watch and sofa to sit on, and a kitchen to cook and eat in, so it's pretty liveable. Day by day it comes together more and more, and I’m excited to see each box emptied and the items finding their new place.  We’re going to be very happy there, I can already tell, and I’m sure the adventures I’ll have to share will be plenty. 

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...