fall in chester county
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Tag Archives: fall
another random act of fall
….how could I ignore this sight?
fall
end of season
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roasted butternut squash soup
October = Fall = start of soup season. I like butternut squash soup. Mine is different because I roast my squash (roasted vegetables add more depth to soups) and I add garam masala, mace and ginger, instead of just nutmeg. I will be making this later today, thought I would share the recipe now.
I was over at Sugartown Strawberries yesterday afternoon and was inspired to make soup due to the perfectly beautiful squash fresh picked by Farmer Bob. (And as a related aside, Sugartown Strawberries starts hay rides next weekend I think)
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 1 medium-sized butternut squash, peeled and seeded (mine today is about 3 pounds)
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 large white onion, minced
- 2 carrots minced
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- 1 pint light cream or fat-free half and half
- 6 fresh sage leaves chopped fine
- celery salt and ground pepper to taste
- mace and ground ginger to taste
- small dash of garam masala to taste
Directions
Halve your squash and remove seeds. brush with olive oil, dust with salt and pepper and place face down on a sheet pan lined with non stick foil or parchment paper and roast skin side up about 40 -45 minutes at 350 degrees (you want squash to be roasted and cooked to be able to easily slide out of the skin.)
When squash is done, remove from oven and leave to cool
Place butter in dutch oven or soup pot and melt. Add sage leaves to pot, followed by onion, carrots and a little celery salt. Over lowish heat gently cook onions down to the point just before they caramelize. Remove from heat.
By now your squash should be hopefully cool enough to handle. Remove from skin and put small pieces into your soup pot with the onions and stir. Fully incorporate your squash (yes, there will be an unattractive mush in your pot at this point) and next quickly whisk in corn starch and incorporate. Slowly and gently whisk in light cream or fat-free half and half – do not boil but bring the heat up almost so all is incorporated.
Add the broth. Stir, stir, stir until all is incorporated and blending together and broth is heated through.
Reduce to a simmer and cook about 20 minutes covered. Next take a hand blender (you know one of those little blender wands and puree your soup right in the pot.
Check salt level and adjust accordingly. Add ground pepper and additional salt to taste and add a good shake of both ground ginger and mace and a judicial pinch of garam masala. A lot of people do this with just nutmeg, I think the garam masala, mace, and ginger taste better.
Keep on simmer/warm stirring occasionally until you serve. This is a soup you can serve the same day or heat up the next day.
This is a soup that does NOT freeze well, so make it fresh and finish in a couple of days.
Additional serving suggestions:
Garnish with rough chopped flat leaf italian parsley and a smattering chopped toasted pecans and a teaspoon of crème fraîche in the center of each soup bowl or serve plain.
the best mac & cheese….ever
Yesss….comfort food season is upon us. 
How would you like my macaroni and cheese recipe?
If you are on a diet, or can’t eat rich oooey cheesy goodness, DO NOT make this recipe. And this is not your mama’s mac and cheese, it’s a special occasion make once in a while kind of deal.
And oh yes, as a related aside, I love these old vintage Dansk Koben Style Dutch ovens from the 1950’s and 1960s? I picked a couple up in sunny yellow at different tag sales years ago.
Dansk is reissuing them and selling through Crate and Barrel. Boy am I glad I scored mine at $5 a piece quite a few years ago. They are quite the tasty price now if purchased new in 2012 (the pricing is a bit ridiculous I think). I have a 4 quart and what I make the Mac & Cheese in, a 6 quart. They also reissued the baking pan from the Koben Style line. Save your money on that one – everything sticks to the enamel on that particular pan, so unless you want to be a dishwashing slave, skip it.
Anyway…These Dutch Ovens (Dansk Kobenstyle) do show up often on Ebay and at tag sales. The prices on Ebay can get a little rich for my blood on them. But if you can score one of either size for $20 or under, you got a great deal. Mine were a steal, but I collected them before they became collectable – my original impetus was my mother had a 6 quart Kobenstyle Dutch Oven and I loved cooking with it and wanted one of my own. I ended up with two. And seriously, I use them ALL the time.
The Best Macaroni and Cheese…Ever
6 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup flour
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups low-fat half and half
1 3/4 cups light cream
8 oz cream cheese (block not in the tub)
1 box of elbow macaroni or small pasta of your choice (16 oz)
5 cups of grated/shredded cheese (I buy the mix – Cheddar and Monterey Jack, or the “macaroni and cheese blend” which also has American)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 a medium onion minced
Healthy dash of Worcestershire sauce
Healthy dash of Tabasco sauce
Small dash of ground mace
8 slices of cooked and crumbled thick bacon
Melt butter in dutch oven. Add onion, cook a few minutes until translucent. (4 minutes on my stove on a medium flame I watch like a hawk so not to burn butter.)
Reduce heat to low and whisk in flour and salt and mace. When it all comes together like a white paste you are finished with that step.
Slowly add half and half. Add Tabasco and Worcestershire.
Slowly add light cream.
Bring it up to a boil and then reduce heat to low.
Add grated parmesan cheese. When that is incorporated and smooth, add cream cheese. When that is incorporated and smooth slowly add the other cheese (cheddar blend see above).
Stir, stir, stir so nothing sticks and turn off burner and move sauce off the heat. (Here’s a tip – I remove a cup of the sauce to a separate container – I usually cook this a day ahead, so when I reheat I add the extra sauce as it heats up – some people just heat up with extra milk – I find this thins it out)
Cook your pasta as per the instructions on the box. Drain but do not rinse.
Fold into your cheese sauce in the Dutch Oven. Add the crumbled bacon and gently fold a little more until all incorporated. Check your mac and cheese and add additional salt and fresh ground pepper to your taste.
You can either serve as is, or throw Dutch Oven into the fridge and eat a day later. If you choose the eat a day later option, reheat slowly on stove top on very low and add back in the extra cheese sauce which you put in a separate air tight container and refrigerated along with big batch of mac & cheese.
If you don’t use the extra cheese sauce in the re-heating of the mac and cheese, you can store for a few days and use on other things (like broccoli)
This is very rich, but super yummy. This recipe will serve a crowd easily as you won’t want to dish up honking huge portions.
And hey, if dishing up to grown-ups give a rough chop to some fresh Italian Flat Leaf Parsley and toss on top when serving as a garnish.