Any body make the Butternut Squash Soup

[Callalily]

from America's Test Kitchen - survey?

I just finished it and am very dissapointed. I've got far better squash soup recipes than this one. Far too much liquid.

Saute squash and leeks


Add herbs


Simmer


Puree


Soup


Recipe

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP
Serves 6 to 8

NOTE: Do not use pre-peeled squash in this recipe. If you use a blender to puree the soup, fill the jar two-thirds full – not more -- and process in batches. Alternatively, you can use an immersion blender to puree the soup right in the pot. Our favorite vegetable broth is Swason Vegetarian Vegetable Broth. Low-sodium chicken broth can be substituted for the vegetable broth. In addition to the sour cream, Fried leeks (recipe follows) are another nice garnish.

2 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 2-inch chunks
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 leek, white and light green parts only, quartered lengthwise, washed, and sliced thin (about 1 1/2 cups)
Salt and pepper
4 cups vegetable broth
1 to 2 cups water
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
Pinch cayenne
Sour cream

1. Place squash in bowl, cover, and microwave until paring knife glides easily through flesh, 14 to 18 minutes, stirring halfway through. Carefully transfer squash to colander (bowl and squash will be very hot) and drain for 5 minutes.

2. Melt butter in Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When butter foams, add squash, leek, and 1 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until squash pieces begin to break down and brown fond forms in bottom of pot, 10 to 13 minutes.

3. Add 2 cups broth and scrape bottom of pot to loosen and dissolve fond. Add remaining 2 cups broth, 1 cup water, thyme sprigs, bay leaf, and cayenne. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until leeks are fully tender, 6 to 7 minutes.

4. Remove and discard bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Working in batches, process soup in blender until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Return soup to clean pot and bring to simmer, thinning with up to 1 cup water to desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper; serve with dollop of sour cream. (Soup can be made up to 2 days in advance.)

Fried Leeks
Makes ½ cup

1 leek, white and light-green parts only, halved lengthwise, washed, dried, and sliced into very thin 2-inch strips
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

Toss leeks, flour, and pinch each salt and pepper in medium bowl. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add half of leeks and fry, stirring often, until golden brown, about 6 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer leeks to paper towel-lined plate; sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Repeat with remaining leeks

[yellerpup]

1. I didn't make the Test Kitchen recipe

but I made one up for a high nutrition soup project I'm working on and posted the recipe and tutorial on my blog. http://www.vickismenu.com/vickismenu/

Love your photos! Did you take them yourself?


Butternut-Apple Soup Recipe

Ingredients
1 – 3# butternut squash, cleaned, deseeded, and roasted (about 4 cups)
2 – Apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (about 2 cups)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 Tbsp. butter

2 C. low sodium chicken broth
½ C. chopped onion
½ C. chopped celery

2 C. apple juice (or more to taste)
¼ C. apple cider vinegar

Method

Cut squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds and fiber with a spoon. Place cut side down on an oiled baking sheet (with a rim) and bake at 350 degrees until tender – about 1 hour. Scoop out flesh and place in blender.

Wash, peel, and core apples. Slice apples, put into large skillet with 1 Tbsp. butter and sauté until apples caramelize a bit. When caramelized, place in the blender with the squash.

In same skillet saute chopped onion and celery. When transparent, add ¼ C. apple cider vinegar to deglaze pan, scraping up any leftover bits from the bottom of the pan. Add 2 C. chicken or vegetable broth and heat simmer for 15 minutes. Cool liquid and add to blender.

Puree squash, apples, and liquids together to make soup. Adjust consistency by adding more broth or apple juice, if desired. To bump up the creaminess factor, I added ½ C. of coconut milk in the final thinning process. Mmmmm. Good!

Garnish:

Put small amount of butter or oil (1/2 tsp.) in a small cast iron skillet and add ¼ C. pumpkin seeds. Stir to coat with oil and toast over medium heat until seeds begin to color and ‘pop’. Turn out onto paper towel to drain, plate soup, and spoon 1 Tbsp. on top of soup.

[Callalily]

3. I truly like your ingredient list;

apple, onion, lemon juice, celery, etc.

I will definitely try this the next time I'm in the mood for squash soup.

As far as the "test kitchen" recipe . . . I'm rather disappointed. But . . . it's fun to be a participant. ;-) I always wonder though, if they take our comments/recommendations into consideration.

[yellerpup]

4. I hope they take your comments seriously.

After all you did test it for them! :hi:

[housewolf]

7. Yellerpup, do you do anything to up the protein content of this soup?

I see a really good source of carbs there, and it sounds interesting with the apple & cider additions. But it doesn't look so balanced in the protein dept to me, unless I'm missing something?

How many servings does this make?

[yellerpup]

10. Good question.

I did not focus on protein in this soup. The project I am working on is to devise 6-8 small meals a day that are high in calories and nutrition for people who have (among other devastating symptoms) trouble swallowing. Other meals within the same day will carry the protein load using legumes, mushrooms, soy, and meat. Huntington's sufferers need 5,000-6,000 calories a day to maintain weight, but the foods highest in calories are also highest in cholesterol. Up to now, they have been instructed to eat rich foods, slather on the butter, load on the sour cream and cheese to pump up their calorie intake. Unfortunately, dairy makes them produce excess mucus which makes swallowing even harder and a steady diet of rich foods can also cause heart failure among a raft of other health problems. If you have insights you'd like to share, I would be grateful to hear them. This recipe made a blender full of soup that my husband and I split. It makes 4 big servings or 6 medium servings. :hi:

[housewolf]

12. Yes, I see that the menu planning for your project is quite difficult

It's hard to find high-level sources of protein that aren't animal-based though, as you know, legumes and beans are great sources.

For myself, I'm not worried about fats and cholesterol (or taste either, for that matter) so I'm not sure much of what I do will be of value to you, but here are a few things I do to try to get enough nutrition.

First of all, I gotta say, the VitaMix has been my savior in that endeavor. It can do things that a normal kitchen blender can't even dream of doing. And, I've recently found out, the VitaMix company provides discounted machines to people with medical-related eating issues so it's more affordable to folks who need one.

I use a lot of dairy, which you say is problematic for your folks. In particular, I use milk, cheese and kefir in particular, but cottage cheese is a good lower-fat source that could be blended into many foods. Eggs are good; hard boiled eggs can be chopped up and added to many blends.

One of my mainstays is almond milk - I make my own in the VitaMix and I don't strain it so it contains all the almond meal and all the good nutrition of raw almonds. At 6-7 grams of protein per ounce of almonds, it's a good substitute for milk/cream and as an addition to many things - here's a caveat though, the commercial boxed almond milks that you buy are strained and most of the protein is discarded along with the almond meal, so it's probably not such a good option for you, and I don't know how actually eating/drinking unstrained almond milk would be (haven't tried it). (While I haven't looked, I suspect this may be true of the soy and rice milks that you can buy also).

Peanut butter, almond butter and other nut butters also are good, and can be added to some things to thin them out and make them easier to swallow. They are good sources of protein, healthy fats and calories.

Sweet potatoes are great nutritious foods that can be mashed and whipped, and like mashed potatoes, can be easy to swallow.

You could explore the world of savory mousselines. They are dishes based on meat, fish, shellfish or foie gras (usually puréed) to which whipped cream or, less frequently, beaten egg whites are added to lighten the texture. I would think they would be smooth and fairyly easy to swallow.

I've been exploring the worlds of superfoods and superherbs. These are real powerhouses. Goji berries, for instance, is a source of complete protein, immune-stimulating polysaccharides, liver-cleansing betaine, anti-aging sesquiterpenes, antioxidants, over 20 trace minerals, and much, much more. Acai berries are great, too. You can sneak noni juice or powder into blends/smoothies. Spirulina, of course, is an excellent source. There are others - raw cacoa (sad to say, most of our chocolate and cocoa has been roasted so it's true benefits are lost, but chocolate and cocoa from raw is now available). These are just a few of the 10 major superfoods. Then there are a variety of superherbs that are helpful, too.

I don't know whether whey protein has the same mucus-forming substances as milk does or not, so that's something you might want to look into. If it doesn't, it could be added to smoothies and cooked cereals as well other cooked foods to increase protein consumption.

Another thing I use frequently is cooked grains - I like a mix of multi-grain (7, 9, or 10 grain, for example), oatmeal and quinoa (quinoa is one of those highly nutritious food that deserves more attention). You could cook the grain cereal then blend with juice, applesauce or milk. I often mix some with a variety of fruits (apple, banana, pear, etc) and re-hydrated dried fruits (apricots, raisins, goji berries, cherries, dates, etc., whatever I have at home). It's nutritios, heart-healthy and filling.

'Course I often add either some olive oil or other heart-healty oil to blends for thier benefits. I've done lots of stuff like blend beef stew and thin it with beef broth or consomme or au jus, I've blended prime rib with a baked potato and au jus, for instance - your folks could do stuff like that and use the blend as "gravy" for mashed potatoes, or rice or something.

One of the big disappointments I've had has been the realization of how basically nutition-less those boxes of broth are! I always thought that chicken broth was something good and nutritious, but at 2 grams of protein per cup, and not much other nutrition to speak of, I now see them as basically flavoring agents and not much else.

I can see how trying to provide 5-6,000 calories of nutritious food per day would be QUITE the challenge! How did you happen to become involved? Is this something for publication that you're working on?

Best of luck to you. I'm happy to talk more to you about this subject. I can see that there might be things we can share that could be helpful to each other.

:hug:

[trud]

2. not me, but

I was reading a pea soup recipe the other day, and they said that thickens up after 1-3 days in the fridge or after pureeing. Maybe it needs more pureeing? Or cook it down?

Looks darn good from those photos :-)

[Dover]

5. Well that is the prettiest, most savory looking disappointment I've yet seen..

Maybe ATK could use a food photographer like you! Nice work.

I'm kind of surprised that their recipe fell flat as I'd think it was pretty hard to make a poor quality Butternut Squash Soup. Usually the Test Kitchen is about fixing recipes to improve them,
but I'm confused why they felt a need to reinvent this one - it seems there are so many wonderful recipes for it out there already. I love the one Yellerpup posted. And Cbayer recently posted a nice one too. I wish they would post the feedback from those like yourself who make the effort to test their recipes (or maybe they do post them?). That would make for some interesting reading.

I just made what seemed like a huge batch of this soup a few days ago and thought I was going to have to freeze some of it. But it's all gone as of yesterday evening and I'm already contemplating making more next week...maybe as a side dish rather than a soup. Love it!!

[hippywife]

13. Ditto!

Great pics, callalily. :hi:

[Blues Heron]

6. I second what Dover said - nice pix!

Great food photos! Nice job!

Any way you could thicken it up some more? Maybe potato starch or something like that, or more pureed squash?

[housewolf]

8. Here's one I posted a while back - Rustic Three Squash Soup

Not much in the way of protein, though

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=236&topic_id=82344#82361

[yellerpup]

11. Beautiful food!

I'd try that in a heartbeat!

[pipoman]

9. Great post, nice pics

I make butternut squash soup often in the fall. I like to roast the squash with a little butter, it gives it a nutty flavor. I peel and cube the squash, toss it with a little butter and canola oil, salt and pepper, then roast it until just the edges begin to brown. Then move it to a soup pot, add diluted chicken stock and some apple or pineapple juice, a little ground allspice, a little molasses (not much, just enough to season). Then simmer until the squash is soft enough to puree.