Super-quick butternut squash & maple syrup soup
The only thing faster than making this delightfully sweet and savory soup is typing this blog post. I've had a couple of small butternut squash setting on the porch for the past couple weeks, and as we're having Ma & Pa come by for dinner tonight I thought it'd be a good opportunity to use them up. I'm cooking a pork roast and baking bread so I wanted a first course veg dish that is delicious, fast and simple. This soup meets all three criteria.
Butternut squash and maple syrup soup.
Ingredients:
- Couple of butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded and cubed into 1" to 2" pieces.
- Salt to taste, maybe 2-4 tsp.
- Cracked white peppercorns, 1-2 tsp (you can use black pepper, white just blends in better) .
- Heavy cream, ½ cup or so (you could also do without the cream if you don't have any on hand; it just softens it up a bit).
- Butter, ½ stick. If you forego the cream you might want to add more butter, up to ¾ stick total. If you use salted butter, keep that in mind when adding the salt.
- Wisconsin maple syrup, the real stuff...at least a ½ cup, upwards to a full cup...do it by taste.
Butternut squash flesh has such a great orange color.
- Add some water, maybe a cup, to a kettle and bring to a boil. The water is really there to help keep the squash from burning and sticking to the bottom.
- Toss in the squash chunks, lower the heat, put a lid on the kettle, simmer for 10 or 20 minutes, until the squash is soft and squishy.
- Mash it with a potato masher or a hand mixer. Add the butter, cream if you're using it, salt and pepper and mix well.
- Add the maple syrup, ½ cup to start, stir it in and taste it. Add more if you think it needs it. You may want to add a little more salt as well (I like the combination of sweet and salty, so I added a little more salt right before serving).
That's it. Might even have some for breakfast in the morning if there's any left.