There are days when you just need soup. There are days when you just can’t find the recipe for exactly what you want, however. Fortunately, soup is forgiving, and after you’ve made a handful you know a good general formula for how to create what you want.
My mom has a recipe for butternut squash soup with sautéed portobello mushrooms with thyme. That’s what I felt like making. So I took a big butternut squash, cut it in half, scooped out the stringy stuff and seeds and chopped it into cubes (about the same size – maybe 1″ cubes). I didn’t have fresh portobellos, so I took a handful of dried shiitakes and soaked them in very hot water for about 30 minutes, until the life was breathed back into them.
Then I stir-fried a sliced (hacked up) onion with some garlic in a few teaspoons of olive oil until soft, added the squash cubes, a tsp of dried thyme, 1/4 tsp salt, and two litres of my home-made vegetable broth, and cooked the squash for about 15 minutes, until it was soft.
While the squash was cooking I squeezed the excess water out of the mushrooms and sliced them thinly. Then threw them in a hot skillet and sprinkled them with thyme and a little salt. I cooked them until the pan dried out and they almost started to stick.
Then the squash got blended with an immersion blender (the kind you stick directly in the soup), but you can use a regular blender or food processor and process in batches.
Finally I taste-tested the sweet squash purée, added a little salt and pepper, scooped it into a bowl, and topped it with the sautéed mushrooms. Quick comfort.
Leave a Reply