Homestyle Cooking: Acorn Squash Soup with Bacon and Kale

I've mentioned a little through some posts how much I enjoy cooking and consuming squash during the autumn.  This love has definitely been cultivated over the last recent years and only just started when I started around college.  I find squash more enjoyable if it's in a soup, or baked in a quiche with other root vegetables.  Honestly, I could have fresh butternut squash soup at least five times every autumn and be happy as can be.  It's pureed and oh-so comforting sipped from a large mug!

Though I do love my butternut squash and a spaghetti squash or two, today's focus is on the little acorn squash and roasting it into a soup.  I had bought one acorn squash at a local farmer's stand in hopes of cooking it in a different method that strayed from simply putting brown sugar on it and baking.  I will acorn squash this way, but I personally like my squash my herby and savory tasting.  This recipe was adapted from Williams-Sonoma's book, Soup of the Day: 365 Recipes for Every Day of the Year.  I also tend to improvise on spices, preference, or what I have on hand already in the fridge or cupboard.

Ingredients: 

1 acorn squash (peeled, seeded, and cubed)
4 Tbsp. olive oil
4-5 thick-cut slices of bacon (cooked and crumbled)
1 onion
4 cloves garlic* (minced)
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
pinch of ground clove
a good sprinkle of seasoned salt or pinch of salt
1 bunch kale (stems removed, rinse and chop leaves)
6 cups chicken stock
1 can white beans (great northern or cannelini) 

optional soup toppings:
french-fried onion pieces
grated parmesan cheese
sour cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) and line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper.  Prepare the acorn squash by washing and peeling it.  Slice squash in half and scoop out seeds.  Place in bowl and set aside to roast seeds later.  Cut up squash in chunks the size of your choice.  I cut mine on the smaller side to about 1/2" cubes, but if you're a big acorn squash lover you can choose to cut larger chunks too.

Place cubed squash in a large mixing bowl.  Toss squash with 2 Tbsp. olive oil, a good sprinkle of seasoned salt (or a pinch of regular salt) and a little pepper.  Transfer squash to baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes, or until you can easily stick a fork through a squash chunk.  

Cook bacon in a medium sized pan over medium heat until crispy.  Transfer to a plate with a couple folded paper towels on top to soak up bacon grease.  Dab excess grease off the top of bacon with a paper fowel.  Let bacon sit until cool and crumble with hands into a small bowl.  Add the onion to a large soup pot and cook with 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil for about 5 minutes on medium-low heat.  Add minced garlic once onions start softening down in the pot and stir frequently.  Cook for a little while longer, until garlic and onions become aromatic, but before they start browning.  

Add remaining spices as well as squash to the pot.  Next add the kale, chicken broth, and bacon to pot and cook on low for 30 minutes.  I tend to let my soup cook on lower temperatures for a longer amount of time to let them simmer and enrich itself with the flavors in the pot.  Plus it adds a great aroma to the apartment that you can smell going up the steps to the front door.  Also, the squash could be substituted with a butternut, small pumpkin, or other hearty root vegetable if you're using up what you have around your kitchen.  This comforting autumn soup also pairs well with grilled cheese for a weeknight dinner for two.  


**Once again, garlic lover here!  If you do not share the same sentiments towards this aromatic friend, please feel free to cut down on the amount used.  I also add a little more than recipes ask for to add more flavor to a recipe, and to help with staying healthy (espeically when customers are starting to come in under-the-weather).    

Homestyle Cooking: Fresh Butternut Squash Soup

I love the autumn in central/upstate New York.  I love making and eating soup.  I love buying produce from local farms and farmer's markets (when I am able to).  With all this love around, a homemade squash soup was bound to manifest sometime or other.  

A couple days ago I made a batch of homemade butternut squash soup from a butternut squash purchased at Bellinger's Orchard, local/regional farm (close to my hometown) in Fultonville, New York.  My mom, sister, and I try to make it a tradition to go apple picking once a year at this orchard, despite the fact we all live in different parts of New York State at the moment with college and work.  It's a pretty large orchard with a pick-your-own-apples (whatever the variety) and a pumpkin patch.  `

It's very much in the middle of country fields and farms, but it has grown quite dear to our hearts.  They also have a small general store in one of their barns when they make fresh apple cider doughnuts, sell jams, jellies, honey, produce, and other yummy foodie things like maple syrup and local cheeses.  Each year I go with my family, I bring back an armful of various squashes to bring back to Syracuse to cook up in the fall and winter.  I thoroughly enjoy a hot bowl of squash soup every autumn and look forward to it with late summer.   

The recipe for this soup comes from Williams-Sonoma's book, Soup of the Day: 365 Recipes for Ever Day of the Year.  Yes, I really love soup so much that I asked for this book last Christmas.  Whether you're as much of a soup fanatic as I am or not, this book is really great for choosing soups with vegetables and ingredients that are in season; which is a great plus.  

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash (peeled and diced in medium-sized cubes)
3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2-3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 onion (chopped)
4 cloves of garlic* (minced)
4 cups vegetable of chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon dried (or fresh) thyme
about 4 fresh sage leaves (chopped)
salt and pepper for taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with either waxed or parchment paper.  Toss cubed squash in a large bowl with extra virgin olive oil and a little salt and pepper.  Place on lined baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes (or until you can easily stick a fork through the squash).

Melt unsalted buter in a large pot and add the onion.  Let the onion cook for a couple minutes, and then add the garlic.  Saute until the onion is translucent, but before garlic browns.  Add the roasted squash and broth of choice in large pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 20-25 minutes.

Remove the soup from heat to allow it to rest for a couple of minutes.  Puree the soup (in batches) with an electric blender or purree soup in pot with a hand-held immersion blender.  (Personally I love my immersion blender for soups like this-it make things so much easier!!)

Now your soup is ready for a fresh lunch or supper!  Feel free to add a little half-half or milk into your bowl or even add some toppings to your homemade soup like French-fried onion pieces, croutons, or parmesan cheese.  I feel like a little crumbled goat or feta cheese would also pair nicely.

Enjoy!

**Note: I really love garlic and will add more than specified in recipes.  If you don't feel the same way concerning this aromatic friend, please feel free to cut down the amount you use in your soup. 

Homestyle Cooking: Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Crustinis

I'm pretty sure I've said this before (and probably will again)...I could eat soup all year round (easily). 
I love soup.  I do enjoy canned coup when I'm feeling lethargic, but canned soup ain't got nothin' on homemade soup!  We've just had our first couple of light snowfalls central New York (a couple of inches) and occasional snow flurries throughout the week.  The winter coat is already in use and the snow brush has come out of its long slumber in the trunk of my 90s grandpa-sedan during the warm seasons.  Winter really feels like it's just around the corner.  Or down the block.

This recipe for homemade tomato soup comes from a cooking blog, Sips and Spoonfuls, that I stumbled upon doing some recipe research.  I followed the recipe loosely and also blended for a fraction of the time recommended for a chunkier soup.  I also used what I already had on hand, so a little improvisation was made.  Listed below are the ingredients I used.

Ingredients:

(soup) 
2 tbs olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2-3 green onions, roughly chopped

8 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

8-10 plum tomatoes

1 tsp dried basil powder ( you can use fresh)

2 cups vegetable stock

2 cups chicken stock

1 tsp sugar

salt, pepper and red chili flakes to taste

handful of chopped parsley to garnish

other (optional) garnishes: 

french-fried onions

croutons

sour cream

shredded cheese/parmesan cheese

(crustini)
Bagette of choice in 1/2" slices (I used a Tuscan bagette)
butter
sliced cheddar cheese

Heat oil in large saucepan and add onion. Once it starts to get translucent, add garlic.  Cook for 5 minutes or low-medium heat or until fragrant.  Add diced tomatoes, basil powder, chicken/vegetable stock, sugar, salt, pepper and chili flakes. Simmer on low covered for about 40-60 minutes.  Blend soup with an immersion blender until desired smoothness or transfer to blender half at a time.  For crustinis, butter each slice of bagette.  Add 2-3 sliced of cheddar cheese between two slices.  Heat large pan to low-medium heat and spray with a little extra virgin olive oil spray.  Cook until each side is lightly brown and cheese is melted.  Enjoy! 

I originally bought the Tuscan bagette for butter slices and dipping into the soup.  Mini grilled cheese sandwiches seemed like a better option after I was done making the soup.  I also was able to cook six crustini in a large pan at once, which made me think of this side morphed into a party appetizer.  Hmmmm....

-Caroline

Homestyle Cooking: Tuscan Ribollita

Autumn has officially arrived here in Syracuse, New York, and that means a myriad of delicious hot soups, stews, and bisque!  I absolutely love making homemade soup and lean heavily on vegetarian recipes.  Though I am not vegetarian (I tried this lifestyle for two years a couple years ago), the majority of dishes I make and eat are vegetarian friendly.  I honestly, don't get those cravings for a hot steak like my family does.

Thursday happened to be one of my days off, so I volunteered to cook supper with a warm bowl of veggie soup in mind.  I am equally in love with pureed soups just as I am with chunky soups, though I made this mind of Gregory who just happens to favor more chunkier soups during the colder weather months.  After a little digging around my favorite cooking sites and blogs I found this recipe for Ribollita, a very lovable Tuscan vegetable soup from TheKitchn found here. (Yes, this is my absolute favorite cooking site ever!)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 dried bay leaf
10-ounce bag frozen spinach
2 cans cannellini beans with liquid
6 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock, for a vegan adaptation)
One 15-ounce can (1 3/4 cups) tomato pureé
9 ounces day old bread, torn in pieces, about 3 cups
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
Parmesan, grated (optional)

The photo above was taken the day after I made it fresh, so it did get chunkier (more like a stew) with the bread chunks I put in.  It still held all it's flavor and goodness even after a little reheat on the stove.  I also added a couple sprinkles of ground red cayenne pepper to add an underlying heat in the soup as well (I like a little spice to most of my dishes).  I also served this soup with a big loaf of crusty french bread that had warmed in the oven for half an hour @ 225 degrees Fahrenheit.

This soup is absolutely perfect for the score of rainy, overcast, and particularly cloudy days we've been experiencing in Syracuse, and is easy to throw together after getting home from work.  Enjoy!

Happy cooking!
-Caroline

Homestyle Cooking: Parsnip Potato Soup

The past week it has really began to feel like autumn is about to be upon us in New York State.  As the cold fronts move over the northeast from Canada, I am beginning my own autumn transition into scarfs and pashminas, sweaters, hot coffee (though I'm still making my own iced coffee-ha!), as well as homemade soups and chilis!

Cooler weather certainly points to homemade soups and stews choked full of autumn and root veggies!  A couple days ago, I had such an urge to make a hot, comforting soup and was looking for a little challenge.  I scoured the recipe binder I now have (full of page protectors housing recipes I've printed online and torn out of food magazines) as well as the saved bookmarks on my computer for some inspiration.  I decided on parsnip potato because, frankly I've never cooked parsnips before and it looked divine!

This recipe comes from a modern parenting site called Babble.  While, I'm very happy to be child-free in my life until I make that decision (a very, very long time away), this website did have some good-looking recipes on it-including this little gem!  You can find the precise recipe located here if you, too, are interested in making this for yourself, family, or friends, as the cooler months descend upon us.

I manipulated the original recipe a little bit to fit the taste buds of Gregory and myself (we really love our garlic and onions).  I also baked two boxes of classic Jiffy cornbread in the oven to accompany the soup as well.

Ingredients:

2 head garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons butter
5-6 diced green onions 

4 medium-sized peeled and diced parsnips

6-7 medium-sized yukon gold potatoes peeled and diced
2 medium carrots peeled and diced

6 cups vegetable broth
water as needed
2 teaspoons salt
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme

4-5 stems of fresh cilantro

4 strips of cooked bacon hand crumbled (to top off your soup)

You could add other soup toppings once it is finished as well.  Gregory and I like to top our soups off with croutons and/or fried onion pieces, depending on the soup.  Sometimes it's just better to dip a little a crust bread, crackers, or a warm sandwich in your soup too!  Also, this dish could easily be made into a vegetarian by leaving out the added bacon in the end, or vegan by substituting the little bit of butter used with extra virgin olive oil.

It's certainly a little easier to shift into the cooler months up in the northeast with a hot dinner!  

Happy cooking!
-Caroline