Spicy Butternut Squash Soup with Lemon-Maple Brussels Sprouts
Most butternut squash soups are a little sweet for me. Honestly, I’ve got a major sweet tooth but some things, like my soups, I want to be more on the savory side. So, this soup is still sweet of course, but the jalapeño and cooking sherry (or white wine) create some interesting flavors that help offset the sweetness. And, while I don’t generally cook with oil, I added a tiny drizzle of truffle oil before serving – YUM. Since I was a little heavy-handed with the jalapeño (by my definition – remember, I’m a spice wimp), I dumped my Lemon-Maple Brussels Sprouts in the soup to offset the heat. Delicious! In the future I will leave the seeds out of the jalapeño – this time I used half of the seeds and the soup was really spicy.
I was at Costco and I saw this 2 lb container of cut up butternut squash. I had to have it. It’s not impossible certainly, but cutting that stuff yourself is sort of a pain. So, I put it in my cart along with my 8 bags of frozen mixed berries for smoothies, and immediately envisioned dinner: roasted butternut squash with herbs and balsamic vinegar, steamed broccolini and garlicky cannellini beans. Healthy, easy and super tasty, just the way I like it! 🙂
The butternut squash I bought 2 weeks earlier was calling out to me, I could hear it (not really, but just work with me here). “How long are you going to let me sit here on the counter before I rot?” Okay! Okay! I’ll cook you! But then what should I do with you? Well, after I roasted it, I got the idea to cut into bite-sized pieces and make a stew. The squash and I were glad I did!
They do sell pre-cut squash which would save some time. Just sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast on parchment covered cookie sheet at 400 for 30 minutes . I think the roasted flavor adds to the stew, but you could just can add the squash to the pot and cook that way.
