This weekend was beautiful fall weather and I spent it at the Festival America, a North American literary festival where I crossed paths with Daniel Handler and all that came out of my mouth were unintelligible sounds. It was only after he was gone that I managed to sputter (to the confused people I was with), "that, that guy is Daniel Handler!!" "Who??", they replied. "Daniel Handler!" I managed, "also known as Lemony Snicket!" Some people get tongue-tied around movie stars. I get tongue-tied around authors. To each his own... But after the sun and excitement, the days have started to get gray and damp here in Paris and this afternoon's downpour confirmed that it is definitely time for soup. (What's that? My story's not at all related to soup? Alright, alright, just scroll down to the recipe if you're going to be like that ;-))
Luckily, I received a beautiful butternut squash in my basket of fruits and veggies from the CSA this week.
Besides the squash, there was lettuce, grapes (from a partner vineyard) and little onions. I also received a very strange-looking long white radish, something I've never cooked with before and these beans I've never cooked with before either. I put the two of them into a stir-fry with some other veggies, which turned out well for the radish and not so well for the beans, which didn't really get cooked right. What would you guys do with those kinds of beans? I don't even know what kind they are, but they're pretty !
Back to my friend the butternut... I was very happy to see him as I've been drooling over squash/pumpkin soup recipes for the past week or two (yes, it's in the air!). I decided to try out one that I saw on a blog I've started to read recently : A Pot of Tea and a Biscuit written by Sylvie, a German woman, living in the UK. I loved her idea of putting together butternut squash and roasted red pepper, two delicious ingredients.
I roasted the red peppers (I used 2 instead of one) along with the butternut squash. I took them out after about 35-40 minutes and let the squash roast the whole hour while I prepared the rest of the soup. I also, borrowed an idea from My Easy Cooking (where Nina has posted another interesting butternut soup recipe) and let the onions caramelize for a while.
I served the soup with a dollop of crème fraiche and parsley garnish. It had so much flavor! I'll definitely make this again if I get my hands on another butternut this season. You can find the original recipe here.
18 comments:
Squash soup is delicious adding red peppers is a great idea too.
Those beans look like borlotti beans, good in casseroles especially with sausages, they are very popular in Italian cooking.
Thanks for the lovely mention! Merci Beaucoup. Sam has already beaten me to it I see, as I was also gonna say that they look like fresh borlotti beans.
This sounds like one of those recipes where red peppers are tolerable... good, even! (Roasting does good things.)
Those beans are gorgeous! I'd blanch them quickly and then heat them through in some kind of herby cream sauce. I really need to sign up for that panier. :)
Sam - Borlotti beans: never heard of them! With sausages sounds good though. I'll have to look them up. Thank you!
Syvlie - No problem. I've been enjoying your blog!
Camille - I totally agree about roasting. Herby cream sauce, mmmm. Not too many things could be bad in an herby cream sauce I think :-)
Wow very clever to associate pepper and squash. It never occured to me but it sounds fab. The only thing is all butternuts are twice the size of my head here, that's too much for one!! I shoudl really freeze some...
WOW... that looks great... and fresh ingredients... LOVELY!
I love all the Butternut Squash recipes going around! It makes me feel like fall is in the air, which I need seeing as we're having a heat wave in LA right now. You would think it was August! When it cools down, I am definitely going to have to try your soup!
Colloquial - Well you could definitely scoop out the roasted butternut and freeze some of it for later us. OR you could make a big pot of soup and freeze it in smaller portions for later in the winter :-)
Fifi - Thank you! I do love the colors.
Apples - I know, it's all very autumnal. You're welcome to send some of that heat over to Paris if you like!
Yummy,
can't wait to try this when I get back - love squash in any form -
Whenever I add a dollop of cream, I tend to slightly flavour the cream with puréed smoked bacons bits (lardons fumés)or tiny amount of Roquefort, however your recipe sounds so flavoursome, I won't be doing this..:)
Learn new thing every day..so that's what borlotti beans are! :D I saw it somewhere before too! The soup just looks lovely!
Nice flavours Hopie, and such an enticing colour to sit down to with a slice of rustic bread. Yahoo.
Here, there - The soup does have a lot of flavor, but adding lardons fumés or roquefort to cream sounds like great idea that I want to hold onto for other recipes.
Cecil - Thanks! I learn so much blogging.
Giz - Funny you should say that because when I made it, a friend had just come to visit for a couple days with some homemade whole-grain brain. It was a great combo!
Mmmm ... my cousin just gave me a garden fresh butternut squash ... this recipe looks like just the ticket for using it up.
Those beans look beautiful! I would have added them to a vegetable soup. Even some fresh beans can take up to 20 minutes to cook properly.
Cicero - Garden-fresh squash, yum!
Joie de vivre - Soup seems to be a common use for them...sounds good! Good to know about the cooking time. I know nothing about fresh beans.
The radish looks like daikon which is used a lot in macrobiotic cooking - very good for you and usually, I think, eaten raw in salads, etc.
And..........drum roll, Happy Birthday tomorrow!!!! Love, Mom
Thank you Mom!
Those beans are very pretty but I have no clue what kind they are! Also - Daniel Handler?! That's awesome! You didn't mention this to me when we talked on the phone!
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