Butternut Squash Soup and Salad

I made this soup because all I had in the freezer was butternut squash. I didn't quite have enough so what I didn't have in squash I made up for in parsnips. This soup turned out spicy and very yummy.

This recipe came from Gourmet Made Simple, by Gena Knox. Her name is spelled different but she pronounces it just like my name. She is local to middle Georgia as well, I met her at the GA national fair grounds during the mistletoe market. I also made a salad that was inspired by a salad recipe in the cookbook.

What I used:

1 frozen box of butternut squash,

1 bag of parsnips, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove elephant garlic (or 3 regular cloves of garlic) chopped

pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon of ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 cups of chicken stock

1/2 tablespoon brown sugar

Sour cream or cream cheese for garnish

What I did:

The recipe called for roasting a butternut squash in the oven, but I had frozen squash so I defrosted it in the microwave (took about 5 minutes).

To a large soup pot I added the olive oil, onions, garlic, and crushed red pepper flakes over medium high heat. This cooked for about 4 minutes until just browned. Then added the cayenne pepper and ginger, and cooked for a minute more.

After all the spices are combined I added the squash, parsnips, brown sugar, and stock. I brought this to a boil, then covered and simmered about 12 minutes until parsnips were soft. The squash was already pureed.

I then used my immersion blender and pureed the rest of the soup.

It turned out very good; spicy and creamy. I didn't have any sour cream to top the soup, but I did have cream cheese so I used that. You will need something to balance the spice, so a creamy topping of some kind is very important. The topping just melted in my mouth, yum!

I also made a mixed green salad topped with salted cashews, almonds and pecans (from a Mr. Peanut mixed nuts jar) and shaved Parmesan cheese.

I made a homemade salad dressing of olive oil, red wine vinegar and honey. It was awesome! I am never buying salad dressing again. I used about tablespoon of honey, tablespoon and a half of vinegar and then streamed in the olive oil until I like the consistency of the dressing.

All in all, it was a nice dinner. I think I'll have the soup for lunch

the next day, maybe with a big piece of bread. Can't wait!

Ribollita

Ribollita is an Italian soup that my mom and I saw Ina cooking on Food Network. It looked so good that we had to try it.

I will type the recipe up, embellishing on some of the things that we changed. We made a double batch, but I will type the single batch recipe.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound dried white beans, we used Great Northerns
Kosher salt
1/4 cup good olive oil (the recipe calls for this, but my mom found Grape seed oil, which is suppose to have huge health benefits. We used that.)
1/4 pound large diced pancetta or smoked bacon (we used turkey bacon, I do not eat pork)
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
1 cup chopped carrots (3 carrots)
1 cup chopped celery (3 stalks)
3 tablespoons minced garlic (6 cloves)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (we used a lot of fresh ground pepper, and we also added a teaspoon of hot chili paste for a kick!)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (yes, we added these too)
1 (28-ounce) can Italian plum tomatoes in puree, chopped
4 cups coarsely chopped or shredded savoy cabbage
4 cups coarsely chopped kale
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
6 cups chicken stock
4 cups sourdough bread, cubed, crusts removed (save those crusts though!)
1/2 cub freshly grated Parmesan, for serving (we enjoy Yoder's shredded aged Parmesan cheese if you can find it; tastes really good)

What to do:
Soak the beans over night, then the next day drain and place in 8 cups of water; bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and continue to simmer for about 15 minutes, until the beans are tender. Set beans aside to cool; do not get rid of the cooking liquid.
An alternative way to cook the beans is in a crock-pot. Place soaked beans in crock-pot full of water, turn on high and let cook for 6 hours.
Sometimes my family eats just the beans as a supper; add chopped onions, salt, and pepper to the beans and cook. Along side some homemade southern cornbread and some scallions in a glass of water, yum yum !
Ok, now on to the Ribollita; the beans are sitting to the side...
Heat the oil in a large stockpot. Add the pancetta, or turkey bacon in our case, and onions and cook over medium-low heat for 7 to 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent. Add the carrots, celery, garlic, 1 tablespoon of salt, the pepper, and red pepper flakes. Cook over medium-low heat for 7 to 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Add the tomatoes with their puree, the cabbage, the kale, and basil and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for another 7 to 10 minutes.
Drain the beans, reserving their cooking liquid. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, puree half of the beans with a little of their liquid. Add to the stockpot, along with the remaining whole beans. Pour the bean cooking liquid into a large measuring cup and add enough chicken stock to make 8 cups of total liquid. Add to the soup and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Add the bread to the soup and simmer for 10 more minutes. Taste for seasoning.
It was at this point we added a teaspoon of hot chili paste for a kick, and lots more cracked pepper. We also took the left over bread crust, drizzled with grape seed oil, salt and pepper and toasted in the oven until they became crunchy.
We topped our soup with these 'crunchies' and lots of Parmesan cheese.
This soup was so full of flavor, we will definitely do a repeat.