soup to seeds {life}

I loved all of your suggestions for what to cook last week. So many great ideas! I would have loved to have gone to the Farmer's Market or to see Jackie's gorgeous bread baking oven. For various reasons neither of those worked out, but someday, someday. I have some ideas, ladies. You know I do. But you all inspired me so much. Saturday was the first full day of fall, and of course fall means autumn soups.

We're big soup eaters around here. Callum has always been a big fan of soups, even when he was a wee tot. His preference leans towards brothy soups with lots of stuff (think chicken noodle with good chunks of stuff like chicken, celery and carrot), but he'll eat a pureed soup like this Butternut Squash soup, no problem. The key is to fill it up with tasty bits. Pumpkin seeds, prociutto, cinnamon toast croutons. I mean, hello. Add some ham and my guys will eat anything.

I adapted this recipe (to follow) from Epicurious. To my mind, the Epicurious recipe was a bit too sweet. Add some spice, and then the cider cream. And then the cinnamon toast croutons? Oh yeah.

Butternut Squash Soup with Cider Creamand Cinnamon Toast Croutons

adapted from Epicurious.com

5 tablespoons butter

2 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 6 cups)

2 cups chopped leeks (white and pale green parts only)

1/2 cup chopped peeled carrot

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 medium Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, chopped

1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried sage leaves

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

5 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth

1 1/2 cups apple cider

2/3 cup sour cream

Melt butter in a large heavy sauce pan. Add leeks, squash, carrots and celery and sauté for approximately 15 minutes, until slightly softened. Add apples, sage, stock and one cup of the cider and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium low and simmer until apples are soft, for roughly 30 minutes. 

Allow soup to cool slightly, and, working in batches, puree soup in a blender until smooth and return to pan. Stir in cumin and curry and set soup aside.

Cider Cream

Meanwhile, bring remaining cider to a boil and reduce by half, to 1/4 cup. Stir in sour cream.

Cinnamon Toast Croutons

Combine 3 tablespoons softened butter with1tablespoon brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon brown sugar. Spread on four slices of bread (we use whatever we have on hand, this time honey wheat) and toast in a 400 degree oven until tops are bubbly. Cut into triangles or squares.

Ladle warmed soup into bowls and top with cider cream and croutons. Soup can be thinned with cream, if it's too thick. Accompany with pumpkin seeds and prosciutto, if desired.

summer sweetness {life}

For certain foods, I can remember the exact first time I sampled them. Guacamole. Asparagus. Artichokes.

And champagne grapes. When Neel was in graduate school in Pennsylvania we were poorer than, well, insert your cliche here. We were poor. Still, we managed to have a lot of fun, and one summer we took a trip to Ithaca, NY to enjoy the finger lakes and wine country. We stayed at a bed and breakfast that I picked because it boasted an AGA and that you could hear the falls from your window. Well, you could hear the falls from your room, sort of, but the bed and breakfast was dear and I was introduced to many wonderful things while we were there. Like baked french toast.

And champagne grapes.

Neel and hiked the falls. (Ithaca is Gorges!) We toured wineries. And we went sailing on Cayuga Lake. Anywhere we go that's near water, I want to get on a boat and my husband always obliges me. The man who gets seasick on porch swings always obliges me. So one of our days in Ithaca we booked a sail and took a picnic out on Cayuga Lake. As the proprietress of the bed and breakfast pointed us to the grocery store to pick up supplies, she suggested, "Look out for champagne grapes." I can still remember standing in the dim light of the produce section as we stumbled upon them and remembered her words. Champagne grapes! Not at all what I expected.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, exactly. A white grape maybe. With bubbles? Not these little darlings. Not these succulent beads of tender sweetness. Just yesterday, Callum suggested that I press one against the roof of my mouth and suck out the juice. It's heaven.

Oddly, the champagne grape is almost never used to make wine. However, if you've ever eaten a Zante currant, it started its life as a champagne grape. They are pearl sized, seedless and the flavor is described as well, intensely sweet. Apparently they get their name because the clusters of grapes look like bubbles in a glass of champagne.

Ah, yes.

I searched around for a recipe or two to test out for you and found some possibilities like this and this. But really, the best advice I can give is to eat them quick, straight out of the bowl.