Name: Bigly Butternut Squash Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 1 large (about 3 lb) butternut squash; 1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped; 4 garlic cloves, peeled; 3 tbsp olive oil; 1.5 tsp, divided kosher salt; 1/2 tsp black pepper; 4 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock; 1/2 cup heavy cream; 1/8 tsp fresh nutmeg, grated; 4 fresh sage leaves; 2 tbsp unsalted butter

Bigly Butternut Squash Soup

Prep

15m

Cook

45m

Total

60m

Bigly says

Listen to me. Butternut squash soup. We're doing it. The BIGLY one. The one that makes every other butternut squash soup look like a wet orange puddle in a parking lot, which by the way is what most butternut squash soups taste like — a national embarrassment, the soup industry is in CRISIS and nobody's covering it. Sad. Very sad.

Here's what nobody tells you. Scientists — and I've talked to scientists, very smart people, the smartest, I had a guy with a PhD in food chemistry explain this to me, took him 90 minutes, worth every second — scientists agree that boiling a squash is a CRIME against the vegetable. The sugars never wake up. The flesh stays pale and weak. You've made BABY FOOD. Congratulations. You've made baby food and you should be ashamed. Food chemists agree on this. Statisticians have run the numbers. The numbers are devastating.

We roast. We ROAST. Roasting is where the magic happens — the caramelization, the sugars, the deep golden color, the most beautiful color in the squash world — and then we blend it with stock and a little cream and a secret pinch of nutmeg and people go INSANE. Servers in restaurants recognize me, they know my face, they bring me extra bread without asking, and even THEY ask me about this soup. They say, 'Bigly, the soup, what have you done.' I tell them. I tell them I roasted the squash like an adult. And I'm telling YOU now, free of charge, no fine print, the only butternut squash soup you'll ever need. Period.

Ingredients

1 large (about 3 lb)butternut squash(the heavier the better)
1 largeyellow onion, roughly chopped
4garlic cloves, peeled
3 tbspolive oil
1.5 tsp, dividedkosher salt
1/2 tspblack pepper
4 cupslow-sodium chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cupheavy cream(do not use skim, do not use almond, do not embarrass yourself)
1/8 tspfresh nutmeg, grated
4fresh sage leaves(optional, but tremendous)
2 tbspunsalted butter

Steps

1
Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a sheet pan with parchment.
2
Halve the squash lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Place cut-side up on the sheet pan along with the onion and garlic.
3
Drizzle everything with the olive oil and sprinkle with 1 tsp salt and the pepper. Flip the squash cut-side down.
4
Roast 40-45 minutes, until the squash is fork-tender and the flesh is deeply caramelized on the bottom. The onion should be soft and golden.
5
Let the squash cool 5 minutes, then scoop the flesh out of the skin into a blender. Add the roasted onion, garlic, stock, cream, nutmeg, and remaining 1/2 tsp salt.
6
Blend on high for 60-90 seconds until completely smooth and silky. Work in batches if your blender is small — leave the lid vented with a towel over the top so steam can escape.
7
Pour the soup into a pot and warm over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Taste and adjust salt.
8
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the sage leaves and fry 30 seconds until crisp. Pour the brown butter and sage over each serving.

One more thing

That's the soup. Forty-five minutes, mostly the oven doing the work while you stand around looking important, and you've got the kind of soup people pay $14 for at one of those cafes with the chalkboard menu and the exposed Edison bulbs. Total scam. Total. You can make it at home for three dollars and feed six people and they'll think you're a wizard. Let them think it. Don't correct them. You ARE a wizard — you used the oven, the oven is the wizard, we're all wizards now. Tremendous.