Butternut Squash & Roasted Garlic Soup

The summer is just over, I was walking down the street minding my own business, when suddenly, in the corner fruit stand, I saw it; A magnificent Butternut Squash, an orange coloured reminder that the summer is over, of the fact that even though the sun was still shinning strongly and the temperatures are nice and warm, any minute now, it can all go to shit without so much as a 'how do you do'. Holly shit, its Fucking Autumn! 

Without giving it much thought I get that magnificent bad boy. To be fair, I spent around 4 to 5 days having an internal debate about the future of the squash. Everything sounded appealing but somehow I could not make up my mind, would I make a pasta? Roast it and eat it like a mash? Soup? And then, my fears of the bad weather came true, I wake up to a fucking storm, gray skies, rain and lightning… and then, it stroke me… not the lightning(duh!) I was in the mood for a fucking SOUP!!!!

So, without further ado, here is my recipe for an Awesome Butternut Squash and Roasted Garlic soup with a bacon, nut and Gamoneu Asturian cheese (Awesome and smoky).

Plate it.

Ingredients:

1 Good sized Butternut Squash.

1 Head of garlic

1 1/2 cups of milk

1/2 an onion

Stock

A bit of butter

Olive oil

Nuts

Bacon

Gamoneu Cheese

Salt

Pepper

Cinnamon  (optional)

Greek yoghurt.

1. First of all, you will need a proper knife. I cannot stress this enough to people. Get yourselves a good fucking knife. Seriously.

2. Any who, cut the top and bottom of the squash, that will help you have some area of contact with your board, cut that bad boy in half, take all the seeds out with the help of a spoon. You can save the seeds, put them on a tray with some oil and roast them, you can serve them with the soup. (This is a little bit embarrassing but when I actually tried this I forgot the seeds in the oven, they got fucking burnt and well, let's not talk about it)

Scoop out the seeds

3. With the help of a potato peeler (or a squash peeler) get rid of the hard exterior leaving the beautiful orange goodness exposed. Cut it in rough chunks and get ready for the roasting.

Peel it.

4. At this point, you should have your oven already pre-heated at 180 °C (Not gonna convert it to Fahrenheit, fuck the Imperial system). Lay down some parchment paper and scatter your squash chunks all round the baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the squash starts getting golden.

5. Take your garlic, cut it in half through the equator (Science Bitch!), take some tinfoil and wrap your garlic in it, adding a tiny bit of oil and a pinch of salt. Roast alongside your pumpkin.

Roast It.

6. In the meantime get your onion, and chop it roughly (this is rustic, don't give a fuck about the size and precision of the cuts), gather your milk, butter and stock. After your squash has been roasted, and it looks golden and delicious. Get a pot, put the butter in with a drizzle of oil (so the butter doesn't burn) when the oily mix is hot enough sauté your onions, once they are starting to brown a bit, take your garlic and squeeze the gooey goodness it has become into the pot. Its time to put in the roasted squash, moving it constantly. Now add the stock* and once it starts simmering add the milk.

*I usually make my own stock out of bones and scraps from my roasts and nice veggies. You can use a good quality chicken, beef or vegetable stock.

7. Now its time to blend it. You can use a normal blender, but I prefer, in these type of cases, to use a manual blender directly in the pot. Once the consistency you want has been reached (I usually like thicker soup almost like a puree, but there is people who like it thinner, if you are one of those weirdoes, well you can add a bit more stock and milk until you reach your desired consistency) lower the heat and cover the pot. Let it simmer for a while.

Soup it.

8. While it simmers and you are starving, lets make the crumble, which will guarantee to drive you insane to the point of almost downing it by itself (not only because its awesome but also because you are already super hungry by this point). Take your bacon and put it in a pan to render its fat and become crispy and delicious. In another pan roast your nuts lightly while you dice up your cheese. Multitasking bitch! Combine all this awesomeness and mix it up a bit to get the crumble.

Crumble

Now that everything is done, its time to Plate! Grab a big ass bowl and pour in as much soup as your crying soul desires, liberally scoop in some Greek yoghurt for extra creaminess and top it off with a hefty portion of the amazing crumble. There. You are done. Eat!

This soup is guaranteed to lift you up on a gray and sad day. It will bring fuzzy feelings to your tummy and will also recreate childhood memories upon the first spoon, great for a night alone, with your S.O or a girl (boy) you want to impress. Rate of success 100%, guaranteed.

Make this! You will not regret it. See you soon guys!