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Photo by Holly A. Heyser
Yes, I know these are neither foraged pumpkins nor are there wild animals in the soup. But remember this blog does have the word “gardener” in it, and I still garden, if less strenuously than in earlier years. One thing I still do grow are squashes. I love winter squashes, and have been on a quest to find the perfect one: Bright orange inside, with tasty seeds and that can keep for months without rotting.
This year I grew an Italian chiogga squash, which is a kind of kabocha; green and warty, with yellow flesh. Not bad, but not my favorite. I’ve grown Navajo pumpkins and Long Island cheese pumpkins and real kabochas from Japan. But so far, I still prefer the common butternut squash. I love the color, the flavor how dry it is and how long it keeps.
Anyone out there have a favorite winter squash? What makes it so?
Squash Soup with Bacon
There are a million recipes for pumpkin or squash soup on the Internet, but I’d like to think mine is a little different — thanks to bacon and creme fraiche. I use either smoked or unsmoked bacon and butternut squash for this recipe, but you can use other squash or pumpkin, too. Remember however that pumpkin is more watery than butternut squash, and that smoked bacon can be overpowering. Salt pork is an excellent substitute for unsmoked bacon. If you can’t find creme fraiche, use sour cream.
This soup will last for 3 to 4 days in the fridge, so you can make a double batch if you want.
Serves 4 to 6.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
- 1/2 large yellow or white onion, about 1 1/2 cups
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 to 1/2 pound bacon or salt pork, diced
- 1 quart turkey, chicken or vegetable stock
- 5 bay leaves
- 1 large butternut squash, about 2 pounds
- Salt
- 2 heaping tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream
- Chopped chives or rosemary flowers for garnish
__________
- Peel the squash, scrape out the insides and chop it into chunks.
- In a large pot, heat the butter over medium-high heat and add the onions and bacon. Cook, stirring often, until the onions are translucent. You don’t want them browning. Pour in the stock, add the squash, bay leaves and a healthy pinch of salt. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low, cover and simmer gently for an hour. Stir it once or twice in that time.
- Uncover the pot, remove the bay leaves and puree the soup, either with an immersion blender, by moving the soup to a blender or a food processor, or by pushing it through a food mill. An immersion blender will give you a slightly chunky soup, a blender the smoothest. Return the soup to the pot, put the bay leaves back in and simmer, uncovered, for another 15 minutes. Stir frequently to keep it from sticking on the bottom.
- Add salt to taste. Right before you serve, whisk in the creme fraiche. Garnish with chives or rosemary flowers if you have them.
Photo by Holly A. Heyser
Trying this tomorrow after all the trick o’ treaters. Thanks Hank!
That looks delicious, currently I am growing butternut, hubbard blue and Galeux D Eysines (warty, and supposed to be sweet, long stored and delicious). I know what I will be cooking in the coming weeks as thing ripen up. I do still have some butternut from the spring that I could do this with now. Perhaps with some fried rabbit on the side…
This is very similar to my Butternut squash soup. I use heavy creme, and then to make it a different flavor profile, I use garam masala and alittle chinese 5 spice – super yummy!!
I agree, butternut squash is hard to beat! A simple soup of bacon, squash, and creme fraiche seems like a great idea. Happy Halloween!
I grew some Japanese Red Kuri Squash this year and I’ve been looking for some good recipes to try. This sounds excellent and simple. Just the way I like it. As my son says, anything’s good with bacon.
http://sustainableseedco.com/Japanese-Red-Kuri-Squash-Seeds.html
This is almost exactly the same as my recipe, including the crème fraiche. The only difference is that I add walnuts with the bacon at the start.
We planted a Cinderella pumpkin last spring and it produced a 56-pound beast along with some 30- and 20-pounders. Those lasted a full year in a shady spot on a dry porch. Fantastic flavor and texture; I loved eating it raw.
http://blog.sondy.com/2011/12/the-56-pound-pumpkin/
I second the Red Kuri. They’re really tasty and versatile. You can halve and roast them, and then the skin usually peels off easily, as opposed to having to scoop out the flesh. I like to be able to end up with a nice chunk of intact roasted squash to cube or dice or whatever, and it’s easier than having to peel and chop it before cooking. They taste a little pumpkin-y and I’d say they store quite well. If you like the traditional butternut, have you tried the Tahitian? They look like a really gigantic, curved butternut, but they are sweeter and I’ve had them store for over a year before. The trick is they can take up to 120 days to ripen, so put them in early.
Always looking for new squash soup recipes. My favorite winter squash/pumpkin is the Hokkaido. It also has bright orange flesh and great taste, but what makes it win hands down is that you can just chop it into chunks without peeling. After cooking the peel just melts in with the flesh. I’ve stored them in a cool place in the basement for about 6 months.
This really is a terrific approach to soup!
My notes:
Used salt pork
Used creme fraiche
After the first simmer, I used a dipper to bring up the solid parts and pureed them in the food processor.
There was quite a bit of liquid, which I held to the side.
I reintroduced a few ladle-fulls of liquid, and held onto the rest. The goal is to make some amazing risotto with the broth, infused with salt pork, onions, squash and bay leaves.
I’m thinking that some roasted vegetables could be pureed and join the soup for the last simmer, too… maybe later.
I love delicata squash. They don’t keep as long as some of the other winter squash, but they have wonderful flavour.
I’ve been drooling over this every since you posted about it. So I made this for tonight’s dinner, and can’t wait to serve it to the family. It’s really delicious, and such a pretty soup! Thank you!
[...] I could be close enough to smell his kitchen, maybe even taste a few dishes. So when he posted a Squash Soup recipe on his blog that called for bacon to give it a bit of fatty pizazz, I was [...]
I made this delicious soup last week with a small pumpkin, bacon and sour cream (couldn’t find creme fraiche), and pureed the soup with my blender. Amazing soup!
I would like to make this soup for Thanksgiving, but would like to make it in advance so that i’m not making soup on top of potatoes, etc. Has anyone made the soup and put it in the freezer? I’m thinking if I do not add the sour cream/creme fraiche before freezing, it might turn out okay. Any hints or tips would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers,
Anna
Anna: You don’t need to freeze it, as this soup will keep in the fridge for a good 3-5 days. Definitely hold off on the sour cream until you serve it, though.
Well done!!! I made this recipe with Pumpkin this weekend. It was awesome!!!