Happy Belated Turkey Day to everyone in the blogosphere, or at least the 20 or so people that read this blog :)
The night before, I decided to try something new, so I whipped up a pot of roasted butternut squash soup. Sounded yummy, and completely unlike anything I had made before. I looked through at least a dozen different recipes, and decided I didn't like something about each of them. I ended up making my own, it turned out pretty good. The idea was to have the soup ready so when the house was filled with the aroma of turkey, and it wouldn't be ready for hours, we could sip on a yummy soup instead.
Here's the recipe...
1 good sized butternut squash
1.5 large sweet onions
1 handful of baby carrots
2 ribs of celery
1 stick butter
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
~1 cup Half and Half
Freshly Ground Salt and pepper
- Place Oven Rack near top element. Pre-heat oven to 425*
- Clean the produce and chop into 1 inch cubes.
- Arrange chopped produce on a sheet pan lined with a peice of foil
- Drizzle a generous amount of olive oil over vegetables, and liberally salt and pepper.
- Roast for about 30-40 minutes, or until very tender, and well caramelized.
- Melt butter in a large pot, and saute minced garlic.
- Add Vegetables to the pot and mash with a potato masher, mixing well with the butter and garlic.
- In several batches, spoon mashed veggies into blender or food processor, and blend until smooth.
- Transfer the blended mixture back to the pot, and slowly add half and half until the desired consistency is reached.
- Salt and pepper to taste
Besides the soup, which turned out nicely, had a very delicate, and slightly sweet flavor; I also performed my yearly holiday cooking duties. These include making the mashed potatoes, Carving the turkey, and making the pan gravy.
I'm a huge fan of the carve your turkey like a butcher technique. Basically you take off the leg quarters and wings, then take off the breast meat in one large piece, and slice it across the grain so it stays together and everybody gets some crispy turkey skin. No, this isn't the Norman Rockwell approach, but it does result in much larger pieces of meat, rather than shreds and strips. I'm also a firm believer in not leaving the meat on the carcass. Once dinner is over (and after my nap) I remove the rest of the meat from the bird, and bag the carcass so it can be cooked a few days later for turkey soup :)
So did you spend all day in the kitchen cooking, or did you travel to see friends and loved ones and partake in their feast? Perhaps neither. Regale us with your holiday tales in the comments.
