October 25, 2020

Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

They say the world eats with their eyes. The eyes are the window to the soul but they haven’t been warmed from the inside out. The soup that I learned to cook in Barcelona, Spain is a game changer. It bubbles every memory I have on Spain and serves it on a spoon.

Butternut Squash Soup Recipe “Crema De Calabaza”

Ingredients:

500 grams of butternut squash (about 3 ½ cups)
3 medium pears
1 medium white onion
12 hazelnuts (I found these at Trader Joe’s or order them here)
Gorgonzola cheese
25g of butter (1 ½ TBSP)
2 TBSP of olive oil
100 g of sugar (7 TBS)
Salt and pepper to taste

This is where I differed from the recipe I received in the Barcelona cooking school. You can see my Barcelona Cooking School Review.

I took my squash and I put it in the microwave for three minutes to soften it so I could cut it. Then I put it on a cookie sheet face down with water. I put it in for 1 ½ hour at 350 degrees. Then I let it sit for a couple of minutes while I began to prepare the large dutch oven.

I chopped the onion like I was instructed in the Barcelona cooking class.

Next, I peeled the pears and chopped them in pieces to get them ready for the soup.

Then I placed the onions it in the dutch oven with the olive oil. I cooked them until they were almost clear.

While that was happening I began to cut up the butternut squash to add it to the mixture.

Once that was done and the onions were almost clear. I added the pears and the butternut to the olive oil and onions.

I saute them for about 10 minutes on medium heat.

Then you want to add in the vegetable stock and let the soup cook for about 15 minutes.

I needed to use my hand mixer to get my soup to be the consistency I like. I love this hand mixer if you do not have one. It is one of my favorite kitchen tools.

In another pan, you will add in the sugar and the hazelnuts. The hazelnuts go on top of the soup. This will take about ten minutes on medium heat. You want to toast them. When they are done set them aside on a paper towel.

When the soup is done you will serve it hot with a drizzle of olive oil and a couple of hazelnuts and the gorgonzola cheese. You will find this earthly pairing to be heavenly.

If you are dairy free use alternative butter and skip the cheese and just add more hazelnuts I also froze my soup in sandwich bags to enjoy at a later time.

Recipes like these are why I suggest on your next trip you stop and take a class on how to cook food from that region. You can read about what else I learned to cook and see some of my pictures from my trip to Barcelona. As always continue to cook because it is blissful.