Butternut Squash Soup With Chicken Sausage

Butternut Squash Soup With Chicken Sausage

This is part of the First Course of the Masters Banquet. It is a traditional Autumn soup that warms the heart with gourmet flavors of the harvest.

Again, much of the preparation is done the day before and then warmed in a crock pot to wait for your guests. They use to describe a full banquet as “everything from soup to nuts”. Here we fore go the nuts. You will notice that through these presentations slave shows each selection on a different pattern of fine china. This is to show you how the patterns effect the look of a food as well as effecting the taste, because we taste first with our eyes.

Next week maybe we can talk about what to look for in china.

Ingredients

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
12 ounces cooked chicken-apple sausage, cut into ½-inch pieces
4 cups cubed peeled butternut squash (1 medium squash)
3 medium carrots, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
½ medium onion, chopped 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
½ cup fresh basil leaves
Directions:

First do your cutting! 

When you get to the squash, cut the two tips off. Then cut the neck from the bowl. Starting with the neck – this is where must of the squash is going to come from. Cut down the sides to remove the peel.

Then cut this into disks like shapes and cube each of them.

When you get to the bowl, cut the peel off of the out side the same way and make a cut down the center of the bulb. With a large serving spoon, scoop out the seeds and throw away. Then slice and cut into small pieces.

Notice slave has placed a wet paper towel over the squash just to help it keep its color.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add the cut up sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel lined bowl using a slotted spoon. When cooled place in a zipper bag and save in the refrigerator.

Don't worry about the brown stuff left in the bottom of the bowl.

Add the onion, celery, and carrots, along with ½ cup of chicken broth. Stir as this heats. You will notice that all of the brown stuff that was stuck to the bottom of the pan is now incorporated into the vegetables which are starting to soften and the onions are turning more transparent. Now you want to add the cubed squash, the rest of the chicken stock and about 2 cups water. Sprinkle in the ¾ teaspoon of salt, cover and allow it to come to a simmer.

Reduce the heat to medium low and let simmer (a slight boil with tiny bubbles) for at least 15 minutes more. Then remove from heat and let cool.

Ladle soup into a blender in batches and let each batch puree. This makes a nice smooth liquid soup.

Pour each batch into a large bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the day of the dinner.

Then mix the sausage pieces into the soup and put it in a crock pot on high for about ½hour to an hour. This will just heat it through until ready to serve.

Before serving:

The garnish of warm basil leaves are not only for color but also for a touch of flavor. They are very thin and heat quickly so watch closely this goes very fast!

Heat the remaining 1/3 cup of olive oil in a small sauce pan over medium heat. When oil is warm, add the basil leaves. You want dark green, crisp leaves, so only allow them to stay on the heat for less than a minute. This is all it takes but makes a world of difference. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

When serving, ladle between ½ to 1 cup – not much more into a bowl.

Doesn’t sound like much? This is to show you. Slave uses a ladle that holds about ½ a cup. So here is 2 ladles full!

Top with a few leaves of fried basil for that elegant touch.

Always serving my Master Indy

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon