photo #3418657

INGREDIENTS* large butternut squash (about 3 pounds), cleaned and cubes* olive oil* chopped shallot* Fried apples* salt* garlic cloves minced* Catskill maple syrup* ground nutmeg* Cinnamon* Maple smoked sea salt* Freshly ground black pepper* Chicken stock as needed* Cream of almond (one with a creamy consistency * Sour cream* butter* Ghee (clarified butter)Made an incredibly delectable soup for dinner tonight! Perfect for a cold winter night, though technically it won’t be winter until tomorrow!! Cream of Butternut Squash. Came out extremely hearty, super smooth, creamy and perfectly sweet. I don’t think I’ve ever made it this good. So yummy!!!😁I’ll give the ingredients and the process but don’t ask for measurements as I made it by sight, smell and taste. Strict measurements are too limiting for certain dishes, this being one of them.Cut the butternut squash into cubes after peeling it and removing the seeds. Diced a shallot. In a large pan I melted first the Ghee combined with olive oil and sautéed half of the squash with the onion and garlic. When the squash was soft enough, I mashed it up and set it aside. Melted the regular butter (more butter is better in this dish) combined with a bit more olive oil and sautéed the second half of the squash and mashed it. Placed everything into a large pot with yet a bit more olive e oil. Mixed in enough chicken stock to cover everything. Combined the cream of almond with the sour cream and whisked it all until it was well blended. (Tasted some as the smell of the almond cream was tempting me in a bad way.) put that into the pot. Fried up a thinly sliced apple with more butter and cinnamon, and when that was soft, mashed it up and placed in the pot. A pinch of kosher salt and a pinch of maple smoked sea salt, some freshly cracked black pepper, a couple of sprinkles of nutmeg and twice as much cinnamon, the Catskill maple syrup, and mixed everything well. Turned on heat at medium high until it began to bubble then turned down to low for about 20 minutes. Took the pot off the heat and let it cool down. Puréed everything in a blender at high speed so as to get air in there. Comes out thick and creamy yet airy and not like cement. Put it all back in the pot AFTER having washed it so as not to get bits and pieces in the final product. Put it on low heat and covered until the soup began to bubble. Gave it a mix with the big wooden spoon and let it cook for another 10 minutes or so. My goodness, I’ll not be modest about this dish. Gordon Ramsey could have nothing negative to say about it!! 🤣🤣A 3lb squash makes quite a bit of soup so I’m going to put the leftover in the fridge and let it sit until Christmas Day and serve it as part of our Christmas dinner for our guests. After a few days of melding in the fridge I can only imagine how yummy it’ll be!!If you try this style of making this soup let me know how it turned out.