Long ago, in the kitchen of one of Montreal’s finest restaurants, I was taught that a truly fantastic soup can be made from a mere handful of humble ingredients.
What made the soup exceedingly good was the quality and freshness of the ingredients, and the method used for cooking. Over the long, frigid Montreal winters, we cooked batch after batch of sous vide butternut squash, and pureed them with a splash of cream for a velvety soup with vivid color. Night after night, I filled bowls with the rich potage, and topped it with delicacies such as seared foie gras, sauteed wild black trumpet mushrooms, and a pomegranate juice reduction. Sublime.
Today’s recipe is inspired by those upscale bowls of soup: a simple combination of apple, squash and onion, seasoned with salt, and thinned with a little cream. Garnished with diced apples, it’s fall in a bowl; and yes, it was cooked sous vide.
Now, I’m a fan of simple soup from scratch, and will be the first to admit that a sharp knife and a sturdy pot are the only requirements for a good soup, be it rustic, roasted or rich. Alternately, I also have enough of a background in professional cooking to know that ingredients slowly cooked in a water oven (or sous vide) will yield a superior soup.
Ten years ago, when I was manning the stove in various restaurants, the culinary term ‘sous vide’ was virtually unknown to anyone outside of processionals. Now, thanks to crazy-popular TV shows such as Top Chef, Master Chef, and Iron Chef, sous vide is fast gaining on culinary terms such as ‘braising’ or ‘searing’. There are even cookbooks devoted to the subject such as Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide and Sous Vide: Help for the Busy Cook.
When the kind folks behind Sous Vide Supreme contacted me to try one of their counter top water ovens, I agreed, as I was eager to see this beautiful new home version for myself. It has been really fun to recreate some of the recipes for my family I had tucked away from my restaurant days.
Danny, armed with his copy of Cooking for Geeks, is pretty excited to get into sous vide cooking. Being our resident numbers guy, he of course loves the science behind the sous vide method and I’m more than happy to let him share the kitchen.
I can see the sous vide supreme working out very well for our family thanks to my background and Danny’s obsession with temperature. We’ll keep you posted.
What is ‘sous vide’? It means to cook food in vacuum-sealed pouches, submerged in a water bath held at a precisely controlled temperature. Sous vide means “under vacuum” in French, as you can see from the images above. The first photo is before cooking, the second is after. (There’s a helpful video on the Sous Vide Supreme website that explains the cooking method with a great visual.)
What makes a sous vide soup superior? When cooked slowly, in a water bath, vegetables and fruits retain their full color and flavor as well as undergo a remarkable transformation in texture. Once pureed, the flavors seem intensified, and the resulting texture is soft and velvety. With just one bite of this soup, Danny was smitten.
5-ingredient Butternut Squash & Apple Soup (sous vide)
Fresh fall ingredients, cooked together sous vide, make for a surprisingly sophisticated soup.
5 from 2 votes
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Course: Soups & Stews
Prep Time: 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 2 hourshours
Total Time: 2 hourshours10 minutesminutes
Servings: 6people
Calories: 123kcal
Author: Aimee
Ingredients
1mediumbutternut squashpeeled and sliced
1largetart applesuch as Granny Smith, cored and sliced
1/2onionsliced, or 6 green onions, ends trimmed
1teaspoonsea salt
3/4cuplight cream
Instructions
Fill 2/3 full with water and preheat the sous vide unit to between 182 and 185 degrees F.
Place the sliced squash, apple and onion into a large, one-gallon food-grade pouch. Vacuum seal the bag to remove as much air as possible.
Submerge the pouch in the sous vide unit and cook for 2 hours until the squash and apples are quite soft. Check the pouches after 20 minutes to make sure they’re fully submerged. If they are floating, weigh them down with a mug or other heavy object.
When the squash is cooked, remove the pouch from the Supreme, and pour the contents into a blender. Puree until smooth.
Add sea salt and cream and puree again. Taste and add more salt if you like. Serve hot, garnished with diced apple if desired.
Do you have to peel butternut squash for soup? No.There is no need to peel the squash. Not only is this a fussy process, but the squash skin is completely edible and will blend into the soup once cooked.
Do you have to peel butternut squash for soup? No.There is no need to peel the squash. Not only is this a fussy process, but the squash skin is completely edible and will blend into the soup once cooked.
The squash also retains most of its nutrients when it is steamed and has a wonderfully sweet butternuttiness to it. Steamed butternut can also be used in a variety of ways – added to salads, mashed, puréed or enjoyed as is with a simple seasoning of your choice.
Butternut squash contains considerable amounts of fiber, which can help you keep a healthy weight and regulate bowel movements. It's known to help prevent colorectal cancer while the beta-carotene in butternut squash can also improve eye health.
In a large bowl mix the cubed squash, garlic cloves and ginger with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the spice mix. Season with salt and pepper and scatter in a single layer in a roasting tray. Place in the preheated oven and cook for 30 minutes until tender all the way through.
Alternatively, serve it as an appetizer with a hearty vegetarian main dish like Roasted Cauliflower Steaks, Vegan Meatball Sandwiches, Homemade Mac and Cheese, Sun Dried Tomato Pasta, or a grilled cheese sandwich!
What happened? It's no coincidence that the butternut squash soup had fermented, alcoholic notes. Indeed, fermented rice turns out to be the culprit here. Rice is high in starch, which is relatively easy to ferment.
Butternut squash contains a type of fiber that's not digestible. If you have diabetes, it can help keep your blood sugar from rising after eating. Butternut squash also has a low glycemic index, which means that its carbs are digested more slowly. This also helps keep blood sugar from rising.
Place scrubbed and clean butternut squash onto a parchment-lined sheet pan.Bake at 400 F for approximately 1 hour or more, depending on size. The skin should start to collapse when it's ready; a sharp knife will easily slip out when pierced. Cool for 20 minutes or so, and then peel off the skin.
Just like other squashes such as courgettes or pumpkins, dogs can eat butternut squash. In fact, butternut squash is one of the most nutritious and delicious fruits for dogs and it's perfectly safe for them to eat regularly.
Although butternut squash can keep for months, it will eventually go bad if not used. You will know your squash is bad if there are soft, mushy spots or if once cut open, the color is extremely dull or if the flesh is spotty, mushy or dry to the point it is pulling away from the skin, then toss it.
One cup is loaded with Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Magnesium, and Potassium! Butternut Squash is filled with antioxidants which include vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta-carotene. It's shown that antioxidants can help to prevent and slow down inflammation which may lead to a reduced risk of several chronic diseases.
To begin with, the butternut squash beats the sweet potato with fewer calories, carbs and sugar per serving. Moreover, it is rich in calcium, magnesium, potassium, and vitamins B6 and E. On the other hand, the sweet potato, however, provides more fiber and protein.
Butternut squash has a lot of powerful antioxidants, including vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene. Antioxidants help prevent or slow cellular damage and reduce inflammation, which may reduce your risk of several chronic diseases.
Raw butternut squash is carrot-like and holds up well in crunchy salads and slaws. If opting for raw squash over cooked squash, start by peeling away the tough outer skin (FYI, you can eat the skin when it's cooked. It's full of fiber and completely edible when softened up a bit).
To can pumpkin or squash: Cut the flesh into 1-inch cubes.Boil the cubes in water for 2 minutes.Fill the jars with cubes and cooking liquid, leaving 1-inch of headspace.
Pour 2 cups water into the dish around the squash halves. Bake in the preheated oven until tender and easily pierced with a fork, about 1 1/2 hours, adding more water as needed. Remove from the oven and transfer each half to a plate, cut-side up. Top each half with butter and season with salt and pepper.
Introduction: My name is Barbera Armstrong, I am a lovely, delightful, cooperative, funny, enchanting, vivacious, tender person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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and Sous Vide: Help for the Busy Cook
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, is pretty excited to get into sous vide cooking. Being our resident numbers guy, he of course loves the science behind the sous vide method and I’m more than happy to let him share the kitchen.
