Butternut Squash, Apple, and Leek Soup

What a crazy week of weather it has been here!  Monday, it was 84F, by late Monday afternoon it dropped to 59F.  It warmed to 80 again on Thursday, cold and rainy on Friday and tonight we have a frost warning.  This is a soup weekend if there ever was one!

Last week, a fellow blogger, Bonnie, at From a Writer's Kitchen, wrote about a butternut squash soup made with apple that she found in the Chicago Tribute. You can click on the link above and see the recipe Bonnie made. It sounds wonderful and I love butternut squash.  Bonnie mentioned how flavorful the soup was with the hint of apple.

Then, a couple of days later, I happened to pick up the cookbook that I had won in a giveaway from Sam at My Carolina Kitchen, called Savoring the Hamptons, where I found a recipe for Butternut Squash, Apple and Leek Soup. I've made a couple of recipes from the book when we entertained this past summer but when I'm entertaining I rarely have time to take pictures.  So finally, Sam, I was able to make AND photograph a wonderful recipe from this cookbook! It was delicious and my husband loved it too.  Thank you so much for this wonderful cookbook, Sam!  I have many more recipes bookmarked to try.

The addition of the apple, leeks, onion, sage, a splash of freshly squeezed orange juice, along with parsley and sage really made this a top-notch recipe.  The recipe also mentions the optional garnish of plain croutons but I had to bring those up a notch also so I baked mine with a generous sprinkle of black pepper, garlic salt and some chopped fresh herbs.  They were perfect with the soup. 

Thank you again, Bonnie, for the idea, and to you, Sam, for the cookbook.

I mentioned in my last post that I would share a few more photos of our trip to Atlanta where we attended a wedding in September. The Atlanta Botanical Gardens were a highlight along with a visit to The Swan House that same day.  

Those of you who have seen the movie, The Hunger Games - Catching Fire, may recognize the opulent facade of the home with it's five-tiered waterfall in the center of the staircase.  This is what guests saw upon entering the driveway. The photo at the bottom of the above collage is the rear of the home where carriages or cars would pull around to enter the home.  

Above, you see the beautiful foyer and staircase, the dining, room, library and sitting room.  Another very highly recommended stop if you are ever in the Atlanta area.  It doesn't cost anything to do your own self-guided tour of the home where you can walk around freely and enjoy all of the rooms with original furnishings. To enter the museum on the property you do need to pay admission.  All of the above photos (except for the one from the movie) I took on our visit. 

Butternut Squash, Apple, and Leek Soup

Adapted from Savoring The Hamptons
Printable Recipe

Serves 6 to 8

2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 butternut squash 2 to 2 1/2 pounds
2 leeks
1 onion
1 tart apple
6 cups chicken stock (low sodium if using store bought)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1/4 cup finely chopped Italian (flat-leaf) parsley (plus a little more for croutons)
2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage leaves (plus a little more for croutons)
Black pepper, Garlic and Herb croutons (recipe follows)

Peel, seed and cut butternut squash into 1-inch pieces using a large chef's knife. Trim, wash and thinly slice leeks and onion. Peel, core and coarsely chop apple.

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan or stock pot over medium heat. When the butter foams, add the butternut squash, leeks, onion and apple and saute for a minute or two. Then, place a piece of wax paper or parchment paper over the vegetables and cover the pan. "Sweat" the vegetables for about 7 minutes. Remove and discard the paper.

Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the orange juice and cook the soup over low to medium heat at a steady simmer for 25 to 30 minutes.

Puree the soup in the pan with an immersion blender, or, puree in several batches in a regular blender.

The soup can be prepared ahead up to this point and refrigerated, covered, until ready to serve. Bring back to a simmer, add the chopped parsley and sage and serve with croutons, if desired.

Black pepper, Garlic and Herb Croutons
Preheat oven to 350F.

Choose a good loaf of French bread, sliced. Prepare 1-2 slices for each person. Brush each side of bread with olive oil, then sprinkle generously with ground black pepper and garlic salt. Sprinkle with some chopped parsley or sage, if desired. Cut each slice of bread in 1" x 1" pieces (you do not need to remove crust) and scatter in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Toast in preheated oven for about 7-8 minutes until golden. Watch carefully toward the end so they do not burn.

Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Spinach Sauce and Beurre Noisette

I can now check another item off the list of things I've never made before...Gnocchi! Last week, at the Farmers' Market, I scored a small bushel of butternut squash.

I don't have one of those cute little gnocchi boards to roll gnocchi (since I've never made them before) but it's on my wish list now.  I found this wonderful You Tube video on how to make traditional gnocchi.  It was very helpful to me on how to mix, roll and shape the gnocchi.  Since I used butternut squash instead of potatoes, however, I found these gnocchi a little soft because of the higher water content of the squash. Leaving them in the classic pillow shape was just right.

I actually baked the squash two days before and mixed, formed and boiled the gnocchi the day before I served it. This helped me strain any excess moisture out of the squash and made the last minute prep a breeze. The gnocchi was simply sauteed in browned butter to reheat it before serving with the freshly-made spinach sauce.

I was truly in butternut squash and pasta heaven!  If you've never tried making gnocchi, give it a try!  It's not difficult, especially when made in stages as I did.

Edit: Last night I forgot to add a photo of my favorite way to grate fresh nutmeg which is used in this recipe.  I use a microplane grater.  If you've never had freshly grated nutmeg you are missing out on a real treat!

Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Spinach Sauce & Beurre Noisette
Adapted from The Pasta Bible by Christian Teubner, Silvio Rizzi and Tan Lee Leng
Printable Recipe

*My recipe includes directions for preparing the butternut squash two days ahead and the gnocchi one day ahead. You can do everything the same day, if desired.

For the gnocchi you will need:

1 small butternut squash, about 1 to 1-1/2 pounds
1 egg
1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for the work surface
1/2 freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and freshly ground pepper (about 1 rounded tsp and 1/2 tsp respectively)

For the spinach sauce you will need:

1/2 pound fresh spinach
2 tablespoons minced onion
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1/4 cup white wine (I actually substituted Pom Juice since I didn't have a bottle of wine open. It worked great!)
1/2 cup beef stock
1 tablespoon cream (I used half & half)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
freshly grated nutmeg

To serve you will need:

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
6 tablespoons butter, melted and lightly browned (beurre noisette)

Preheat the oven to 400F. Place the squash on a baking sheet and pierce with a sharp knife in several places. Bake for about 1 to 1-1/2 hours or until a knife can be inserted easily. Allow the squash to cool until easy to handle and cut it in half. Remove the seeds and fiber and scoop out the flesh with a large spoon and force it through a potato ricer. You will need about 1 packed cup of riced squash. Alternately, you can place the flesh in a food processor until lightly pureed. You just don't want any lumps. *At this point, I placed the squash in a fine-meshed strainer over a bowl, covered and refrigerated it and allowed the excess moisture to drain out overnight.

To make the gnocchi:

Mix the riced or pureed and strained squash with the egg, flour, Parmesan, salt and pepper and work into a smooth dough. If the dough is still sticky, add a little more flour. Taking plum-sized pieces of dough, roll into a rope about 1/2 thick on a floured surface. With a knife, cut the rope into pieces about 1 inch wide. They will resemble a pillow. Dust with more flour, if necessary, to keep them from sticking together. Repeat with the rest of the dough. I left the gnocchi in the pillow shape because they were a little too soft to roll into traditional gnocchi shapes on a gnocchi board or over a fork. I'm sure this is a result of the squash having more water content than gnocchi made with potatoes.

Have a large bowl of ice water ready near your cooking area. Cook the gnocchi in batches in salted boiling water for about 5 minutes or until the gnocchi rise to the surface. Using a slotted spoon, remove the gnocchi when they are done and place in the bowl full of ice water to stop the cooking. (Or, instead of putting them in ice water, you can serve immediately). When all the gnocchi are cooked and chilled in the ice bath, drain and place in a bowl. At this point, you can cover and refrigerate the gnocchi overnight.*

To make the spinach sauce:

Wash and trim the spinach. In a saute pan over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Sauté the onion until softened. Add the spinach, toss and cook until wilted. Puree the spinach mixture in a food processor. Combine the pomegranate juice and meat stock in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce to about 1/2 cup. Add the spinach puree and bring back to a boil. Remove from heat and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and the cream. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mix thoroughly and keep warm.

In a sauté pan over medium heat, add the 6 tablespoons of butter (I used less) and allow it to brown lightly. Drain most of the butter into a pyrex dish leaving enough in the pan to saute the gnocchi. Add the already-cooled gnocchi and saute until heated through, adding more browned butter, if needed.

Place the spinach sauce on a serving plate, add the sauteed gnocchi and drizzle the rest of the browned butter over the top. Add grated Parmesan and serve.

*Notes: The squash can be baked, riced and allowed to drain two days before serving and the gnocchi can be prepared the day before serving.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Sage Ravioli with Hazelnut Butter

With cool, rainy and windy weather bombarding us right now, it felt like a good day to make some homemade pasta! I had been waiting for an 'indoor' day to make this recipe since I first saw it here.

I love the pasta roller set that I got for my birthday earlier this year. It fits my stand mixer so there's no need to crank, which makes pasta-making so easy. There is a great video showing how easy making pasta sheets with the roller attachment here.

This was my first attempt at making ravioli! On each flat sheet of pasta that I made, I placed some butternut squash filling at 1-inch intervals along one side, the margins were moistened with water and then folded the plain side of dough over the filing. The air is pressed out the edges were pressed to seal the filing. I then used a pastry cutter to cut along the sealed edges. Click here to see a short video of how this chef seals ravioli.

A little toasted hazelnut browned butter and some freshly grated parmegianno-reggiano on top...molto buono! This was such an excellent recipe!

I was lucky enough to find hazelnuts without skins at my local grocery store but you could also substitute toasted walnuts. If you don't have a pasta roller, you could substitute won ton wrappers.

Fresh Pasta

Adapted from Williams Sonoma

2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
3 eggs, lightly beaten
Flour for dusting
Pasta Machine or Pasta Making Attachment
Baking Sheets

Place flour in a mound on a hard, non-porous work surface. Make a well in the center large enough to hold the beaten eggs then pour them eggs into the well. Gradually incorporating some of the flour from the sides, using a fork, being careful to not to break the flour wall. When the eggs are no longer runny, you don’t have to worry about the wall. Continue to work in more flour until the dough is no longer wet.

Knead the dough by hand, adding as much additional all-purpose flour as needed until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky, for 3 to 5 minutes.

Have your pasta machine ready next to the work surface. Dust baking sheets with flour. Divide the dough in half and keep one half on the work surface, covered with a kitchen towel to keep it from drying out. Lightly flour the work surface with some of the reserved sieved flour. Using a rolling pin, flatten the other dough half into a rectangle thin enough to go through the rollers at the widest setting. Pass the dough through the rollers once, then lay the resulting ribbon down on the work surface and flour it lightly. Fold into thirds lengthwise to make a rectangle and flour both sides lightly. Flatten the dough with the rolling pin until it is thin enough to go through the rollers again. With one of the two open edges going first, pass the dough through the rollers nine more times at the widest setting; after each time, flour, fold and flatten the dough as described. After 10 trips through the wide rollers, the dough should be completely smooth and supple.

Now you are ready to thin the dough. Starting at the second-to-widest setting, pass the dough through the rollers repeatedly, setting the rollers one notch narrower each time. When the pasta ribbon gets unwieldy, cut it in half and continue rolling one part at a time until the dough reaches the desired thinness.

Arrange the finished pasta sheets on the prepared baking sheets and cover with kitchen towels to prevent drying. Repeat the entire process with the second half of dough.

Butternut Squash with Hazelnut Butter
Adapted from Foodess

2 pounds of fresh butternut squash
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 small onion, diced
1-1/2 tablespoon fresh sage leaves, minced
4 ounces mascarpone
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chicken stock
1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts
Parmigiano-Reggiano for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut squash in half, remove seeds, and drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil. Place flesh side down on baking sheet, and bake until very soft, about 40 minutes.

In a dry pan over medium heat, lightly toast chopped hazelnuts. Set aside. In the same pan, add remaining tablespoon of olive oil, and cook onion with sage until soft and golden. Scoop flesh from cooked squash, and add to onion mixture and mash together. Allow to cool slightly, then add mascarpone and combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Drop teaspoonfuls of squash mixture about an inch apart the length of a sheet of pasta. Fold pasta over filling, and use dampened fingers to seal the entire length. Press pasta down around all sides of filling to seal. Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the pasta into squares of equal size, each with a dollop of filling in the center. Fold the cut edges under, around all four sides of ravioli. Use a fork to crimp and seal. Repeat with remaining pasta sheet. Drop ravioli into a pot of gently boiling water and cook until they are tender, and rise to the surface (about 7 minutes).

Heat butter and hazelnuts in a pan over medium heat until butter browns. Add broth, and remove from heat. Drizzle brown butter sauce over ravioli on plate, and top with shaved or grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

You can find more at here. Thank you, Foodess!

Gnocchi with Butternut Squash and Sage

I've always loved the rich and savory combination of pasta, squash and sage. A new, favorite restaurant features a special dish on their fall and winter menu that uses potato gnocchi rather than plain pasta with squash and sage. When I found this Cooks Illustrated recipe for the main ingredients, I decided to try it using some store-bought gnocchi.

It was fantastic!

The method of first sautéing the bacon with the sage and then using the bacon drippings to carmelize the squash was a wonderful idea.

Pasta with Butternut Squash and Sage
Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

Serves 4 to 6.

Adapted from a recipe published January 1, 2009 from Cook's Illustrated.

Ingredients

4 slices bacon , halved lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces
8 large fresh sage leaves , plus 1 tablespoon minced (I used frozen leaves from my garden)
1 medium medium butternut squash (about 2 pounds), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
6 scallions , sliced thin (about 1 cup)
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon sugar
Table salt and ground black pepper
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 pound prepared potato gnocchi
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Instructions

1. Cook bacon in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Add whole sage leaves and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Strain mixture through fine-mesh strainer into small bowl, reserving bacon fat and bacon-sage mixture separately.

2. Return skillet to high heat, add 2 tablespoons reserved bacon fat (adding olive oil if necessary) and heat until shimmering. Add squash in even layer and cook, without stirring, until beginning to caramelize, 4 to 5 minutes. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally until spotty brown, 3 to 4 minutes longer. Add butter and allow to melt, about 30 seconds. Add scallions, nutmeg, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 3/4 teaspoon pepper, and minced sage; cook, stirring occasionally, until scallions are softened, about 3 minutes. Add broth and bring to simmer; continue to cook until squash is tender, 1 to 3 minutes longer.

3. Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts water to boil in a large stock pot over high heat. Add store-bought potato gnocchi (I used Alessi brande). Cook for 3-4 minutes, until gnocchi rises to the surface. Drain in a colander.

4. Add squash mixture to pasta; stir in 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese,and reserved bacon-sage mixture, adjusting consistency with reserved pasta liquid. Serve, passing almonds and Parmesan separately.