Butternut Bisque

I've got lots of squash. My mother has gone away for a month so I have the CSA all to myself for the next month. And oh, man, oh man, the squash is piling up.



I found this recipe for butternut bisque a few years ago and it was appealing to me because there were directions for freezing the leftovers. Unfortunately, I never got around to eating the leftovers because they went into hiding in the very back corner of my (surprisingly small) freezer. Anyway, so this year the plan is to share with my neighbor and it's kind of payback because he brought me a whole sack of honeycrisp apples from the orchard/pumpkin patch he went to a few weeks ago.



I went into a sort of a cooking frenzy on Sunday. The Big D was working on the second coat of paint for our dining room and I was feeling the need to stay away from this one. I spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen making the bisque, some cornbread and later, roasting a chicken. The paint, by the way, is fabulous! It was a $5 Oops paint and I swear I never would have picked a color like this on my own, but it was such a good deal I couldn't pass it up. And, it turned out so incredibly wonderful. It even makes the kitchen paint debacle look a bit better. Man, never again will I paint during a Mercury retrograde!



The bisque is such a lovely shade of orange. I kept thinking Baby is going to love this cuz of the color and the creaminess. I got to pull out my immersion blender to mash all the cooked squash.




The cornbread. My first attempt at it from scratch. I've always done mixes, ones recommended by others who swear by them, but have never liked them as much I wanted to. This one turned out wonderful and I even whipped up some honey butter for spread.




I had to show the image again because I think the color is so beautiful!

Butternut Bisque (adapted from Everyday Foods)

3 Tbsp. butter
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2-4 garlic cloves, sliced
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, plus more for garnish (optional)
course salt
1 large butternut squash (about 4 lbs.), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 can (14.5 oz) reduced-sodium chicken broth
3 cups water
1 cup half-and-half
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
sour cream, for serving

1. In a large saucepan, heat butter over medium. Add onion, garlic, thyme, cinnamon, and cayenne. Season with salt, cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, 5 to 7 minutes.

2. Add squash, broth, half-and-half, and 3 cups of water. Bring to boil; reduce to a simmer, and cook until squash is tender, about 20 minutes.

3. Blend in blender (in batches) or use an immersion blender to blend until smooth. Stir in lemon juice; season with salt. Serve bisque with sour cream, garnished with cayenne, if desired.