Don't these ingredients look good? Or at least photogenic? Butternut squash, Granny Smith apples, shallots, garlic, onion, and a potato for thickener?
Let's talk about recipes for a second. A number of the recipes I post are family recipes that have been around for a long time or ones I've adapted or made up.
Occasionally, and more often now that I read other food blogs, I find incredible recipes that I replicate or modify giving proper credit to the originator.
The third thing I do with recipes, and really enjoy, is having a basic idea of what I want to make, and reviewing a number of recipes and adding or deleting ingredients as I read different versions of the same item I'm making to come with a new "mixture" of ingredients that will be somewhat unique.
This is what I did with the Butternut Squash recipe.
I consider myself a fairly good cook and baker, and able to co-join ingredients and come up with a successful output, ya know?
So I perused a number of recipes.... I started with the basics, as you see in the photo above. And as I looked at recipes I decided to add, in addition to chicken broth, fresh apple cider...(I LOVE fresh apple cider), and then some real maple syrup from another recipe, cinnamon sticks seemed like an appropriate addition, as well as nutmeg and finally a freshly split vanilla bean.
Damn this sounded good, and if you look below, looked beautiful as well:
So I made this at night, and refrigerated it overnight (to let it steep), and the next morning before I went to work, set it up in the crockpot, and turned it on medium.I got home like 8 or 9 hours later, and my house smelled, .......strange. Not good, like it usually does if I've done a soup or roast in the crockpot.....just kinda different.
So I checked the soup, took a taste, and it seemed FAR from done..... so I turned it to high, salted and peppered it, and let it boil happily away for another 4 hours.
I then took out my new handy submersible blender, and blended everything together.....
And guess what?
IT WAS AWFUL!!!!!
JUST AWFUL!!!!!
The onions were crunchy and terrible (I didn't saute them first, figured 12 hours in a crockpot would soften them, wrong!)
It was bland (I figure I underestimated the amount of squash I needed by 4 times)
It tasted slightly like cider and that was it. (See comments above)
And overall, the taste of the overall soup was alien, strange, and not something that would appeal to anyone on this planet. Somehow the combination of flavors, that although sounded delicious in my head, tasted like a witches brew.
So, even though you may have a blog, a great camera, love to cook, and think ya know what you're doing, try my recipe and it'll bring ya down to earth.... LOL
I just had to share.
Gosh, I'm this old and finally realized I'm human. (obviously joking, you don't raise 3 kids and not realize that everyday of THEIR lives.....lol)
3 comments:
Make this one, it's much better.
Roasted Butternut Squash & Apple Soup
2 pounds butternut squash
5 TBSP unsalted butter
Pinch allspice
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 leek, white part only, washed, cut lengthwise in half and sliced thinly
2 apples (variety your choice), cored and diced
1 TBSP fresh sage, chopped
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 ½ cups fresh apple cider
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 425°F. Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Place it on a baking pan and dot each half with 1TBSP butter and sprinkle with allspice. Roast in oven for 1 hour or until the squash is very soft. The squash should have some patches of browned skin for the best flavor. When it is done, remove from oven and cool slightly.
While squash is roasting, prepare soup base. Melt remaining butter in a medium saucepan over moderate heat. When the butter is foaming but not brown, add the onion, leek, apples and sage. Reduce heat, cover the pan and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until tender. Add the chicken stock and apple cider. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes.
When the squash is cool enough to handle, scoop out the pulp (about 2 cups). Add the pulp to the soup base and simmer for 5 minutes. Puree the soup in a blender until very smooth. Strain through a fine-meshed sieve.
When ready to serve, reheat the soup over moderate heat until it just reaches a simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Well it did make me laugh! Sounds like a lot of people were having that kind of experience.
you're right, ron, this would be a tremendous let-down. i'm glad you shared your ecperience, though--makes me feel better about my goof. :) incidentally, peabody's recipe sounds delightful!
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