For years, this has been one of my favorite soups. Many a Thanksgiving, a very small bowl of this deliciousness has been the first course. My recipe is adapted from the Spiced Squash Bisque in Dishing with Kathy Casey. This is one of my cookbooks with old stains and stuck together pages. Sound appetizing? The state of my book reflects all the fantastic food I’ve made out of it. Over the years, I’ve made some changes to the spices and today I made it vegetarian by using vegetable instead of chicken stock. This dish tastes like a lot of trouble, but is really easy to make, which is just one more reason to love it.
It’s also versatile. I usually make it with butternut squash, but you could use sugar pumpkin or a different squash. I generally use sour cream in the recipe, but today I had Greek yogurt, so I went with that. It came out a little more tangy than usual, but still fantastic! Often, I garnish with toasted squash seeds, but since this time I took the time saving step of using precut butternut squash I didn’t have any. I served it instead with gougeres, but you could garnish with a different seed or something else crunchy like crackers or crumbled pita chips.
But before there is soup, there are ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup diced onion (about 1 medium)
- 1 1/2 lbs of peeled, seeded and cubed butternut squash
- 2 gloves of garlic, minced or pressed
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, finely crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
- 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 3/4 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt, plus a little more for garnish
In a large, heavy stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the cubed squash, garlic, spices, bay leaf and kosher salt.
Add the stock and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat, partially cover the pan and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until squash is tender.
Remove from the heat, discard the bay leaf and transfer the hot soup in batches to a blender, add the sour cream or greek yogurt and puree. Or even better, puree everything together in a pot using an immersion blender.
Taste for seasoning and add salt as needed. Garnish the soup with more sour cream or Greek yogurt thinned with a little water.
