Tag Archives: The best fall soups

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Ever notice how some winter vegetable soups taste a bit flat and one note, resembling baby food that’s been thinned out with a bit of water or stock? Depth of flavour is often noticeably absent.

This soup is anything but boring. Roasting the squash really contributes to a deep flavour profile. Sautéed leeks add a delicate subtle onion flavour and apples add a welcome sweet-tart juiciness. Ancho chile powder contributes mild smokiness and heat and cumin powder jumps in adding an earthy, nutty, pungent bite. The additional time it takes to roast the squash is well worth it. Plus, there is no need to peel or dice the squash. Just cut it in half, lengthwise and set it on a foil lined baking sheet while you prepare the other ingredients.

For a gorgeous finish, add a touch of maple cream (mix 1/3 cup sour cream with 1 Tablespoon maple syrup). To make the pretty swirl I show here, put maple cream in a squeeze bottle and drop a few small dots of the cream on top of the soup. Take a wooden skewer or toothpick and run it gently through the center of the dot, to make the elegant pattern. Finish it off with a light dusting of smoked paprika and a few toasted pumpkin seeds for some crunch.

Click here to print recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup.

Pear Parsnip Pistachio Soup

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Pear Parsnip Pistachio Soup. Say that 3 times fast! If you or your progeny are of a certain vintage, the title of this soup may bring back memories of a certain Sesame Street Fairy Tale called The King Banishes the Letter P, featuring King Peter The Persnickety.

I just adore the shape and all the gorgeous colour variations of fall pears. However, for eating out of hand, pears just don’t set my pulse racing like a crisp Sweetango apple. But when cooked, the flesh of pears becomes silky and velvety. That’s what I wanted to capture in this soup.I decided to combine the pears with parsnips. The earthy tangy quality of the parsnips would provide the perfect balance for the sweetness of the pears. Looking for inspiration, I stumbled across a recipe for a Pear Parsnip soup with a very odd list of disparate ingredients that included wine, milk, pistachios and a chile pepper. But then I saw that the recipe was from Stephanie Izard’s (Top Chef winner Season 4) cookbook, Girl in the Kitchen. Long a fan of Stephanie’s big bold flavours, I knew I had to try this soup.

I baked some pear chips to accompany the soup, because I like a little crunch with a pureed soup. They couldn’t be simpler to make. Slice firm pears very thinly on a mandolin. Or, if your knife skills are excellent and you can slice very thinly and evenly with a sharp knife, go for it! No need to peel or core the pears. Lay them flat, in a single layer (do not overlap) on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 200°F for 45 minutes. Turn the pears over and bake for another 30-45 minutes until they are curled up at the edges and golden brown. They will still be a bit pliable at this point but will harden upon cooling. The pear chips will keep for a week, in an airtight container. You could sprinkle a bit of salt or cinnamon on them before baking, but I just left mine plain. They make such a pretty garnish for the soup. Sometimes pureed root vegetable soups can taste a little bit flat, and you aren’t really sure what vegetables you’re tasting. I wanted both the pears and the parsnip flavours to shine through. This soup delivered in spades. The chile flakes quietly announce themselves with a gentle heat that does not smack you over the head. The wine provides much needed acidity and the milk contributes a mellow gentle background note. Salty pistachios add texture and a wonderful counterpoint to the sweet pears.

Click here to print recipe for Pear Parsnip and Pistachio Soup.

Roasted Tomato and Carrot Soup with Cheddar Crisps

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I may get drummed out of the core for saying this, but even though the Farmer’s Markets are still full of beautiful ripe tomatoes, I find myself shunning fresh sliced tomatoes with a hefty pinch of malden sea salt and a chiffonade of basil. With October just around the corner, I am yearning to roast something.Red ripe plum tomatoes are halved and combined with some sweet carrots, aromatic garlic, onions, thyme and rosemary. Salt, and a healthy pinch of red pepper flakes woke everything up. I wanted a grown up tomato soup. Tossed with some olive oil until glistening, the veggies are roasted in a hot oven for 45 minutes.

I pureed it all in the blender and added some water to thin it out. I decided against using chicken stock as I really wanted the taste of the vegetables to shine through. A tiny bit of 35% cream stirred in just before serving really brings all the flavours together.

I decided to serve the soup with some cheddar crisps. This is what I imagine the childhood classic of tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich would grow up to become!

If you have never made cheese crisps before, you need to try them. They can be made with almost any firm grating cheese (Cheddar, Parmesan, Gruyere, Manchego, Asiago). They are delicious with a glass of wine, served on the side with a salad or even slipped onto a burger for some crunch. Beautiful to look at, salty and crunchy, they are the perfect counterpoint for this velvety soup. The crisps are quite simple to make. They can be flavoured with almost anything you like. I decided on fresh thyme leaves, a pinch of cayenne and some black pepper. The trick is to spread the cheese out into flat circles so that they are lacy when baked. They will be a bit soft when you remove them from the oven, but they will harden upon cooling.

Salt and Serenity

Tales from my kitchen