When it comes to autumn soups, I think Butternut Squash has to be one of my favorites! There is something about the earthy sweetness of butternut squash that lends itself beautifully to soups. It always gives such a creamy finish. But then again, all of the Winter squashes do.
Butternut squash is one of those squashes that is readily available most of the year round, but which is at its best at this time of year. It pairs perfectly with the sweet tart apple which is used in making this Butternut Squash, Apple & Cheddar soup. And onion . . . or earth apples as they are also known. The three together are a trinity of good taste!
- 2 TBS ghee or butter
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
- 1 medium eating apple, peeled and chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp dried sage leaves
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 TBS soft light brown sugar
- 3 cups (400g) butternut squash, peeled and cubed
- 2 1/2 cups (600ml) vegetable stock
- 1/2 cup (120ml) milk or cream
- 1/2 cup (65g) grated sharp/strong cheddar cheese, plus more to sprinkle on the soup when you serve it. (sprinkle is optional)
This really is quite simple to make. I really hope you will give it a go. It's delicious!
- Heat the ghee/butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add the chopped onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent without browning. (It's important not to let it brown as that would add an unappealing color to the finished soup.)
- Add the apple and the garlic. Continue to cook for a further 5 minutes. (The apple will be starting to soften nicely.)
- Season with the salt, pepper, sage, cinnamon and brown sugar. Mix all well together. (This will give off a lovely aroma!)
- Add the butternut squash. Toss to coat with the seasonings, onions and apple. (This helps to get the flavors into all of the ingredients.)
- Add the vegetable stock and bring to the boil.
- Reduce to a slow simmer and cover tightly. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, until the squash is meltingly tender. (You just want it to slowly simmer, not boil.)
- Remove from the heat and blend smooth using a stick immersion blender. (Alternately you can blend in a regular blender in batches.)
- Return to the hob and gently reheat over medium low. Add the milk/cream. Bring up to a simmer. Cook for several minutes longer. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired. (Once you add the cream you really don't want it to boil.)
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the cheese to thoroughly melt.
- Spoon into heated bowls to serve with or without an additional sprinkle of cheddar on top. (A heated bowl helps to keep your soup hot for longer.)
1. There are a lot of really great readymade stocks available in the shops these days, but often they can be high in salt. I always try to make my own stock when I have bones left from a roast or ham or chicken.
- Just pop the bones into a saucepan (you can roast them first to brown them off in a hot oven. This will greatly amplify their flavor. 450*F/230*C until they are crisp and golden brown). Add an onion, peeled, several stalks of celery, a large carrot peeled, some pepper corns and salt. You can also add some fresh herbs if you have them like parsley and thyme. Bring to the boil.
- Skim off any foam and discard. Simmer over low heat for an hour or so. Obviously the longer you simmer it the more flavor filled it will be. Strain through a sieve and then pack into one or two cup containers to use when needed. You can also freeze it in ice cube trays for when you only need a spoonful or two.
Butternut Squash, Apple & Cheddar Soup
This is one of the most delicious butternut squash soups! Somewhere in between sweet and savory, it has a rich and velvety texture that is really pleasing to the palate!
Ingredients
- 2 TBS ghee or butter
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
- 1 medium eating apple, peeled and chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp dried sage leaves
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 TBS soft light brown sugar
- 3 cups (400g) butternut squash, peeled and cubed
- 2 1/2 cups (600ml) vegetable stock
- 1/2 cup (120ml) milk or cream
- 1/2 cup (65g) grated sharp/strong cheddar cheese, plus more to sprinkle on the soup when you serve it. (sprinkle is optional)
Instructions
- Heat the ghee/butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add the chopped onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent without browning.
- Add the apple and the garlic. Continue to cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Season with the salt, pepper, sage, cinnamon and brown sugar. Mix all well together.
- Add the butternut squash. Toss to coat with the seasonings, onions and apple.
- Add the vegetable stock and bring to the boil.
- Reduce to a slow simmer and cover tightly. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, until the squash is meltingly tender.
- Remove from the heat and blend smooth using a stick immersion blender. (Alternately you can blend in a regular blender in batches.)
- Return to the hob and gently reheat over medium low. Add the milk/cream. Bring up to a simmer. Cook for several minutes longer. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the cheese to thoroughly melt.
- Spoon into heated bowls to serve with or without an additional sprinkle of cheddar on top.
This content, written and photography, is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
This apple crisp recipe differs somewhat from most apple crisp desserts. Most will have an incredibly sweet brown sugar, flour, butter, and oat topping. The topping for this one is much more like a biscuit topping.
It is almost more like a cobbler than it is a crisp. But just like a crisp, it is a beautifully autumnal dessert that your family is sure to love.
It is perfect made with the fresh autumn apples which are available at present. But don't let that limit you! It is also delicious made with other Autumn or even Summer fruits!
Why not try it with Peaches or Plums. Nectarines would also work well, as would Pears, Raspberries, Blueberries, or Cherries.
You could even do a combination of fruits. Some delectable ones would be Peaches and Raspberries. Or Peaches and Blueberries. Pear and Apple go very well together, as do a mix of berries. We like it best with apples however.
I like to use a mix of apples if I can. I combine some tart cooking apples with some sweet eating apples. Bramley are the cooking apple of choice over here in the UK. They break down to a nice and fluffy, allmost applesauce texture.
Granny Smiths are tart, (not quite as tart as the Bramley), but tend to hold their shape better when cooked. Sweet crisp eating apples add a special sweetness to the mix. I like Pink Ladies.
Combining more than one kind of apple will give you a mix of tender apples suspended in a thicker sauce. If you use more cooking apples than sweet apples you may want to add a few tablespoons of sugar to the mix so as to prevent it from being too tart.
You can even use canned apples, which makes it that much easier. My first husband came from a farm family. They had dairy cows, sheep, chickens and orchards. They also grew vegetables for the local cannery. That would vary year to year.
One year their fields would be filled with peas, and another it might be beans or even carrots. They also grew their own feed for their livestock.
They grew a variety of apples. A delicious mix of eating and cooking apples. Autumn was always a hive of activity as everyone worked hard to get it all in before the really cold weather arrived.
Nothing was wasted. Even the drops were used. They were sent to the Scotian Gold factory to be made into apple juice or pressed into cider.
My MIL was very good at putting things up of course. Shelves in her cold cellar would be lined with jars of produce she had put up, including apples. There were also bins of fresh apples that, surprisingly, lasted all Winter almost into the spring.
I learnt a lot from Lois about cooking. She was a fabulous cook. Most farm wives are great cooks. They need to be. There were always extra mouths at the dinner table and during harvest season this could add up to quite a few extra mouths.
Quite often labourers would pick and choose where they wanted to work according to the kinds of meals the Farm wife would prepare.
Being a good cook made a huge difference to the quality and quantity of labourers you could and would get!
Lois passed away several years ago at the age of 100, having outlived her husband by a good many years. I have always been very grateful to Lois for all that she taught me about being a good wife and a good cook.
She was no shirker of hard work, that's for sure. She was cooking and crafting right on up into her old age, and with care managed to live in her own home right up to the end.
This dessert reminded me of the kind of dessert she would have baked. It has her name written all over it. Old fashioned. Simple. Delicious.
Because I use a mix of apples, the filling has plenty of texture. There is soft saucy bits of apple and firmer bits of apple, all mixed togther. Quite nice really.
You could make short work of cutting the apples by using an apple corer/slicer. I think, however the wedges it makes would be a bit too thick, so if you use one, cut them in half yet again.
This went down a real treat served warm from the oven with ice cold Vanilla ice cream. I do have ice cream scoops somewhere in two sizes, but do you think I can ever find them when I need them? Nada. Not at all.
That's what happens when you have a chef's kitchen crammed into a kitchen that was not meant to be used by anyone who actually likes to cook. Too much stuff, not enough space, equals a degree of frustration that varies from day to day. I really need to get rid of some stuff.
Things would run a lot smoother if I had less stuff. I keep telling myself that, but then I look at things and can't quite bring myself to part with them, because . . . you guessed it, they might come in handy one day.
Anyways, do make this Apple crisp for yourself. I think you will be pleasantly pleased with the results. Moreishly delicious especially with something cold and sweet spooned over top.
Some other apple desserts you might enjoy are:
QUICK AND EASY APPLE TARTS - Perfect for when you are short on time and yet still want to serve a delicious and impressive dessert!
DUTCH APPLE TURNOVERS - Flaky pastry filled with plenty of apples, sweetened with white and brown sugar, and lightly spiced with cinnamon, freshy grated nutmeg, cardamom and a tiny bit of cloves.
Apple Crisp with Sweet Biscuit Topping
Ingredients:
- 5 large apples, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch thick wedges
- 1 cup (140g) plain flour (all purpose)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (95g) granulated sugar
- 1 large free range egg, lightly beaten
- 4 TBS butter, melted and cooled
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 7 by 9 inch baking dish, or an 8 inch square baking dish. Arrange the apple slices in the baking dish in an even layer.
- Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Stir in the sugar and salt. Add the egg and stir/cut it into the flour mixture with a fork or a pastry blender until crumbly. It should have a mix of wet and dry bits. This is how it should look. Sprinkle this evenly over top of the apples.
- Drizzle the melted butter over top evenly. Sprinkle with the cinnamon.
- Bake for 45 to 55 minutes until the topping is golden brown and the apples are tender with juices bubbling around the edges of the dish.
- Let rest for 20 minutes before serving warm. Spoon out from the dish and accompany with a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream or some pouring cream.
notes:
So the virus is rising again. They say we are into the Second Wave now. I don't know what to think about that. Its a tiny bit frightening to say the least. Stay safe and stay happy! And while you are at it, enjoy some apple crisp! This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
Cheddar & Corn Chowder
ingredients:
- 3 TBS butter
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 large potato, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 bay leaf, broken in half to release the oils
- 1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds, bruised
- 1/4 tsp dried sage
- 3 TBS plain flour
- 480ml chicken stock
- 300ml light cream or milk (1 1/4 cups)
- 225g frozen corn niblets (1 1/2 cups)
- 2 TBS chopped fresh parsley
- 2 TBS chopped fresh chives
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 60ml dry white wine (1/4 cup)
- 200g grated strong cheddar cheese (2 cups) plus more to sprinkle
- salt and black pepper to taste
instructions:
How to cook Cheddar & Corn Chowder
- Melt the butter in a saucepan with a heavy bottom. Add the onion, potato, broken bay leaf, cumin seed and sage. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until the onion is softened without browning. Stir in the flour. Cook and stir for about 2 minutes. Don't let it brown.
- Whisk in the stock and the milk. Bring to the boil, whisking constantly until smooth. Reduce to medium low and simmer, stirring often for about 30 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Stir in the corn, parsley, chives, nutmeg and wine. Simmer for a further 5 to 6 minutes until heated through. Discard the bay leaf. Stir in the cheese and heat over low heat, just to melt the cheese. Don't let the soup boil. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and black pepper. Serve hot, ladled into heated bowls with a spoonful of cheddar sprinkled over top of each.
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