It was a cool, rainy day. Just the day for soup making.
Ceci has been asking for a chicken broth recipe. I make broth every week. I buy chicken backs and necks, or other chicken parts, or I use a whole stewing chicken, or, as today, I use the left-over carcass from this week's roast chicken.
Chicken broth is not scary. Just put the carcass (or chicken pieces) in a large pot. Cover with cold water. Put it on the stove. When it begins to boil, turn down the heat so that the water is barely simmering, not boiling hard. I almost always add a few bay leaves and a few cloves of garlic to the water...not cooking school procedure, but that's what I do. If I know what I will use the broth for I may add chopped ginger as well. As the pot simmers, skim off any scum and excess fat every so often. If you started out with a whole chicken, or chicken parts with meat, take the meat off the bones when it is cooked and save it for shredding or salad (buffalo chicken dip??). Put the bones back in the pot. Add some salt to the cooking water. Don't over salt. You probably don't know where you will be using all of this broth later. I like to lightly salt each layer of a dish.
When you have skimmed off most of the fat and scum, add your chopped vegetables. The traditional mixture is onion, celery, and carrot, with more onion than the others. But what do
you like? If you don't like the sweetness of carrots, use less. I recommend some carrot as a natural flavor enhancer, but it's all up to you. Today, for one good-sized chicken carcass I used a large onion, 3 stalks of celery and one carrot. Let the pot keep simmering until you have a flavorful broth. Depending on taste, you can add some thyme, other vegetable scraps, mushrooms,.... but the stronger the taste the less universally useful the broth will be. If you know that the final dish will be Italian, or Asian, or Caribbean in flavor you can season accordingly. For an all purpose broth stick to the standard flavorings. When you are satisfied with the flavor and consistency, strain the broth into a clean container or two. I always try to keep some in the refrigerator and freeze some for future use.
For this butternut squash soup you will need
- a butternut squash, peeled and cubed
- 2 Tbs butter
- kosher salt
- black pepper
- poultry seasoning (thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, black pepper, nutmeg)
- one small onion, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 small potato, peeled and cubed
- 4-5 cups of chicken broth (as needed)
The hardest part comes first. I hate peeling the squash. It's all downhill from there. I use a good vegetable peeler and take the peel off in strips. You need a good knife to cut the squash in two lengthwise. Take out the seeds. Peel each half. Cut the flesh in cubes.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. While it is heating, and you are fighting with the squash, put an 8 x 11 pyrex in the oven with the 2 Tbs of butter, until the butter melts.

Mix the squash cubes into the butter, then season with kosher salt, black pepper and poultry seasoning. Spread the cubes out into one layer and place the pyrex in the oven. Check on progress and stir after 20 min. You want the squash roasted through with some caramelized bits on the pan. When the squash is done, take it out and set aside. I actually drained off the butter from the squash and used it to cook the onion...
Thant's right, the next step is to cook the onion slowly in a bit of butter in the soup pot. Crush the garlic cloves under a big knife, slip off the skins and add them to the pot. (This is actually a good time to use up all those little cloves that have been left behind. Just use the equivalent of 3 large cloves.) Add a bit of salt to the onions so that they release their liquid and simmer in it. After a few minutes, when the onions look transparent, add the cubed potato. Here I add a bit more salt and some more poultry seasoning. You can add more sage if you like. It works well with the butternut squash. Light seasoning on each layer. Stir to coat the potato with the butter in the pan and simmer for a few minutes. Then add enough chicken broth to cover the vegetables, plus some. When the potato is cooked through, add the cooked squash, scraping in those dark bits from the pyrex. Cover well with more chicken broth as needed. Stir well and simmer for a few more minutes. The squash is cooked, you just want to blend the flavors. Taste...always taste. When you are satisfied, take the pot off the heat.
I use an immersion blender to blend the soup. You can use a standard blender, blending batches of vegetables and liquid and pouring into a clean pot. As you blend add more broth as needed to achieve the texture you want. Taste again. Adjust seasoning.
This is a delicious, naturally sweet, flavorful soup with a good onion, garlic base. Enjoy with a sprinkling of feta or blue cheese on top., or swirl in some yogurt.. or drink it straight from a mug on a chilly day.