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butternut

Roasted Butternut Squash, Pumpkin, and Carrot Soup

by 32 Comments

Have I ever told you how back in high school a nun almost busted me for smoking behind the school?

 

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Yeah.  I didn’t think so.  Sorry, Mom!  I don’t think I ever told you either!  Ummm…. probably because I valued my life?

 

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True story.  I went to this very small Catholic high school in the middle of nowhere.  Seriously, there was a total of 39 kids in my graduating class. And there wasn’t a lot to do in this little place, so you can imagine how we had to make our own fun.

 

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This little school clearly trusted us too much.  We had a senior lounge down in the basement by the cafeteria.  It had couches, a television, and a coke machine.  We were allowed to hang out there during lunch and study hall.  SENIORS ONLY!  It was totally isolated in the afternoon which just opened the door to teenage shenanigans. We used to sneak out all the time.  Most of us had cars, so we would all jump in someone’s car and take off to scandalous places like Wendy’s, the pizza joint or the corner store. Although the corner store is where we bought our smokes.

 

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Right.  I was confessing about smoking.  So, my friend Mary Beth and I were hanging out in the senior lounge.  And because high school is soooooo dang hard we decided we needed a smoke break.  There wasn’t enough time before our next class to actually get in the car, fire up a couple of Virginia Slims menthol foot-longs, drive around the block, and head back to school.

 

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Well, of course we did the next best thing.  We snuck out the back door of the cafeteria, fired up the foot-longs, leaned our tired selves against the building in our plaid skirts, cardigans, knee socks, and penny loafers, and blew out a plume of smoke in satisfaction.  Ahhhhhh!

Then the door opened.

 

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Fortunately, we had the good sense to be on the side of the door that hid us behind it as it opened. And thank goodness that Sister Celeste was about 100 years old and kind of….well, old?  We saw her black habit peek out the door, sniff the air, give a hmmp, and go back inside.  You can imagine the relief we felt.

 

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Ahhhh.  High school.  There’s just something about the fall, pumpkins and butternuts, football season, and cooler weather that just sends me back in time to the days of innocence (ok not so innocent?) and carefree comfort of having no responsibilities.  The perfect time of year for silly memories and comforting soup.

 

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P.S. Dont’t judge me.  Y’all will be glad to know that I no longer smoke Virginia Slims foot-longs or any other carcinogen.

 

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Soup Draft

Ingredients

  • 2 small pie pumpkins
  • 1 butternut squash
  • 3-4 large carrots
  • 2 onions
  • 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
  • 3-4 cups water
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • salt and white pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cups heavy cream plus another 1/4 cup or so for serving
  • pistachios and sour cream to garnish optional

 

 

 

 

Roasted Butternut Squash and Carrot Pasta

by 40 Comments

What’s up, butternut?  Y’all, we are just a few weeks away from Halloween, so it seems like the time is right to have this little talk.

 

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Full Disclosure:  I’m totally terrified of spiders.  It’s real.  And I’m sure I’m not alone.  But they are EVERYWHERE with their creepy little giant sticky webs.  Totally grody.  I absolutely despise the nasty sticky webs.

 

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Chris built me some raised garden beds for my birthday on the sunny side of our house. Unfortunately, a spider moved in and started building webs that connect the neighbor’s tree to my tomato plants.  Not cool, creepy spider.  Not cool at all.

 

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Seriously, that dang spider built that web every single day.  And every single day I walked through it. Every. Single. Day.  No fail.  You would think I’d learn?  Remember? Nope.  And let me tell you that when I walk through a spider web it ain’t pretty.  There’s lots of screaming and cursing going on and it starts with OMG SPIDER! SPIDER!  And I get more exercise in 12.73 seconds than I do in a week.

 

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After that I’m less amused.  It goes more along the lines of Mother %$*# and lots of crying about the spider webs in my hair.  It also includes jumping around and begging Chris to make sure that there are no spiders in my hair or climbing up my back.  It’s a hot mess.  At least I’m a hot mess.

 

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So the other day I was minding my own business, listening to the 80’s station on satellite radio, and driving to work.  There it was.  That nasty spider appeared out of nowhere IN MY CAR!  It’s creepy little self was dangling on its web from the ceiling/roof in front of my horrified eyes.  It was getting lower and lower – closer and closer.  Obviously I was a danger to myself and others, so I had to pull over.  It wasn’t pretty.

 

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If you happened to be driving in Charlotte last week and saw a lunatic in a black suit and heels jump out of her car and run like the devil himself was chasing her….

 

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I don’t know anything about that.

 

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What I do know is that my spider fear has absolutely nothing to do with Roasted Butternut Squash and Carrot Pasta.  That should come as no surprise to you if you have been visiting this site for more than 5 minutes.

 

Happy Monday, y’all!

 

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Roasted Butternut Squash and Carrot Pasta

Ingredients

For the Butternut

  • 2 small butternut squash
  • 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons butter

For the Pasta and Sauce

  • 1 onion diced
  • 4-6 garlic cloves minced
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 1 tablespoon sage
  • 1/2 teaspoon thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon allspice
  • 2 1/2 cups chicken stock - or vegetable stock
  • 2 cups butternut
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
  • salt and white pepper to taste
  • 4 carrots peeled and biased sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
  • Parsley and parmesan to garnish
  • 5 carrots peeled and sliced on the bias in 1 inch pieces
  • 1 pound Rotini or favorite pasta
  • parmesan and parsley to garnish optional

Instructions

For the Butternut

  1. Preheat oven to 425
  2. Cut butternut crosswise where skinny part meets fat part
  3. Slice off ends
  4. Halve lengthwise, remove seeds
  5. Coat with olive oil and place cut side down on parchment paper lined baking sheet
  6. Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on size
  7. Let cool to be able to touch, remove peel
  8. Heat butter in a non-stick skillet over medium high heat, cook until brown bits appear and it smells nutty and fragrant, about 3 minutes
  9. Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment
  10. Beat until combined, pour in browned butter and mix until smooth and combined

For the Pasta and Sauce

  1. Melt butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat
  2. Add onions and cook 1-2 minutes, then add garlic and cook until fragrant and translucent
  3. Add wine, sage, thyme, allspice and cook until wine is reduced by half, about 2-3 minutes
  4. Add butternut mixture and chicken or vegetable stock, stir until well combined
  5. Add heavy cream, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and white pepper and let cook and reduce until it's a thick sauce, 10-12 minutes
  6. Meanwhile, bring a pasta pot of water to boil
  7. Toss in a hand full of salt
  8. Add Pasta, stir
  9. Using the extra steaming basket, add carrots and cook until almost the texture you like, I did about 8 minutes
  10. Drain the carrots into a colandar, pull pasta basket out of the pot and drain, pour pasta water over the carrots
  11. Combine pasta, carrots, and sauce, garnish with parsley and parmesan
  12. Serve immediately