A Veritable Squash Squall

The theme for this month’s supper club was “A Fall Harvest.” Since the leaves are starting to change colors, and the fall is certainly here (despite NYC’s perpetual 75 degree summer heat) and the fall vegetables are just too delicious to pass up, a fall harvest themed supper club was in order. Since there is nothing more “fall” then squash and pumpkins (well maybe apples, beets, and perhaps brussel sprouts), I decided a squash soup would be appropriate for the occasion. Specifically, I chose a butternut squash recipe as my contribution to this month’s supper club.

I really wanted to do this fall harvest thing properly and thought the most proper butternut squash was one bought in some country pumpkin patch or the Union Square Farmers Market. Unfortunately, I didn’t have easy access to a country pumpkin patch and instead of taking a 30 minute break from work to dash down to Union Square; my oh-so demanding boss thought it would be better if I spent our clients’ money by researching proper croquet attire for her upcoming weekend garden party. (No Joke). As such, I resorted to purchasing two butternut squash at the local specialty store, which doesn’t carry any ripe produce. The butternut squash I bought was the size of a football and had the weight of a bowling ball. Actually, George used the butternut squash as a football while watching the games on Saturday. We were subsequently fined by the landlord after an incomplete pass resulted in a squash size crater in the floor….

Anyway, so this simple squash soup turned out to be an arduous and dangerous task. In order to make squash soup, the rock-hard squash had to be peeled and chopped into 1-inch cubes. Sounds simple, right? Well, with a dull knife, albeit the size of a machete, the task was not simple. I almost accidentally amputated my hand. After quickly realizing that I would loose a limb and slowly bleed to death as I was home alone on this squash peeling adventure, I decided to use a vegetable peeler to peel the skin. After what seemed to be an eternity peeling, my squash was ready to simmer in the soup pot.

The rest of the recipe was quite simple and my soup turned out quite nicely. After I had roughly 8 pounds of chopped squash, I diced an onion and let the onion-squash mixture cook for about 20 minutes. I then added chicken broth, a little salt and pepper, and a few shakes of nutmeg. The recipe actually didn’t call for nutmeg, but without the extra spice, the soup was a bit boring. I then let the soup simmer for about 40 minutes. At the last minute, I added a few teaspoons of heavy cream and paprika to garnish. Some pictures are attached.

I believe my fall harvest soup was a success, but even more of a success is that I am alive to tell the story!

Until next time.