I’ve already done a butternut squash soup post, but I did this one off the cuff for lunch yesterday and was really happy with how it came out. I wanted to list the recipe real quick and will hopefully get another post done tonight. For this soup, I used pretty much every vegetable in my fridge, so that was nice.
Ancho Chile Butternut Squash Soup, 2-3 Servings
Ingredients
- 2 medium sized dried ancho chiles, rehydrated, seeded, roughly chopped
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1/4 onion, chopped
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 butternut squash, roughly 1.5lbs, halved and seeded
- 2-3 medium sized carrots, peeled
- 3 cloves of garlic, not peeled
- 1 tsp sambal oelek
- 2 cups of vegetable stock
First preheat the oven to 400 degrees and rehydrate the ancho chiles by covering in boiling water, at least 30 minutes.
Roast the halved butternut squash, carrots, and garlic for 45-60 minutes, until the squash is tender. I wrapped the carrots and garlic in aluminum foil with a few drops of olive oil.
Once the squash is ready, scoop out the guts and put it in a bowl. Chop the carrots and squeeze out the garlic cloves and add those to the bowl.
Sauté the onion and the celery in 2 tsp of olive oil, for 5 minutes, or until soft. Add the squash/carrots/garlic mixture, along with the anchos, the sambal oelek, and the vegetable stock. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add more stock as necessary to maintain the consistency you want.
Then pour the contents into a food processor and puree until smooth. Garnish with chopped cilantro. Also, I seasoned it considerably with salt.
This was much better than my last attempt at butternut squash soup, and I really liked it. The anchos and sambal oelek added a nice amount of heat, and the acidity and flavor of the lime and the cooling effect of the cilantro gave it great balance.
