Make some Butternut Squash Soup tonight. Take it to the next level and add a crisp brown pastry crust. Suddenly you have a masterpiece!
The steps for creating a delicious Butternut Squash Soup are so simple. Your can make this elegant entree tonight with very little effort.
The puff pastry crust was inspired as a topping for my creamy soup. I saw a box of lonely frozen puff pastry in the freezer. It was calling to me, “Chef, you can use me!” How can you refuse a talking box of pastry? Instead of making crisps to go with the soup, I decided to add it to the top and create a crust. So simple and it brought another layer of flavor to the soup.
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Pastry Crust
Category: Soup, Vegetable
Yield: 8 servings
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Total time: one hour
Source: Artful Chefs/ Chef Pharrell
Ingredients:
3 pound (s) butternut squash – Roasted and cubed
2 tablespoon(s) butter
1 small onion chopped
1/4 cup(s) orange juice
1 medium ginger root – peeled and chopped
4 cup(s) vegetable stock, low salt
1 Tablespoon Kosher salt- to taste
fresh ground pepper – to taste
2 cups spring water
Pastry:
1 package puff pastry, like Pepperidge Farms or Trader Joe’s Butter Puff Pastry
1 egg, beaten
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
This step may be done a day ahead if desired.
Lay the butternut squash on its side and cut it lengthwise in half. This can be tricky and sometimes dangerous, so be very careful when cutting. It sometimes helps to have a kitchen towel underneath the squash to help stabilize it. Take each of the halves and lay them on a baking sheet, cut side up. If you have to nip a little off the rounded bottom part to make it flat so they stay still, by all means do so. Drizzle some olive oil over the open squash or add small dabs of butter all about it. Sprinkle the salt over the surface. Place the squash in the preheated oven and let it roast. It should roast until it is soft and able to be easily taken out of the skin with a spoon. This can take anywhere from 25 minutes to an hour, depending upon the size of your squash.
For the soup:
Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add ginger and squash; cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook an additional minute or two, until the garlic is fragrant. Then immediately stir in the stock and water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer 20 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. .
Purée soup in two batches with a blender or an immersion blender. When blending hot foods, allow the heat to escape to prevent splattering. Remove the cap from the hole of the blender’s lid, and cover with a dish towel.
Stir in kosher salt to taste.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Set out and butter 8 oven-safe soup bowls. Remove the puff pastry from the refrigerator. Cut each sheet into four equal squares.
In a small bowl, beat one egg with one tablespoon water for your egg wash. Grab a small pastry brush, a little fresh thyme in and you are ready.
Ladle your soup equally into the eight bowls, cover each bowl with a square of the puff pastry. Brush each pastry top with lightly with the egg wash. Sprinkle with a little thyme.
Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes until beautifully browned and the soup is bubbly. Let cool for a couple of minutes before serving to your guests.
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