Butternut Squash Soup (Crema de Calabaza)

Most butternut squash soups taste like baby food with cream stirred in. This one tastes like squash. The difference is one step: the squash goes into a hot oven first, until the edges turn brown and sticky, before it ever touches the pot. Everything after that is quick.

It’s a fall soup with a Spanish accent: a slow onion and carrot base, a pinch of smoked pimentón, and a few drops of sherry vinegar at the end. If you have a batch of Homemade Chicken Stock in the freezer, this is the place to use it. No cream required.

What You’re Learning

Roasting builds flavor that simmering can’t. When you boil squash, the most it can get is soft. It never gets hotter than the water around it, so it just tastes like wet squash. In a 425°F oven, the surface dries out and browns, and the natural sugars caramelize into something deeper and nuttier. Spread the pieces out with space between them. Crowded squash steams in its own moisture instead of browning, and you lose the whole point of the step.

A rich soup needs acid at the end. Squash is sweet and the soup is thick, and without something sharp it tastes flat no matter how much salt you add. A teaspoon of sherry vinegar, stirred in after blending, wakes the whole pot up. It’s the same reason a squeeze of lemon helps so many dishes. Taste before and after adding it, and you’ll start reaching for acid in everything you cook.

Ingredients

Serves 6.

• 1 large butternut squash (about 3 lb), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more for serving
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 teaspoon sweet smoked pimentón (Spanish paprika), plus more for serving
• 4 cups chicken stock or vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
• Black pepper, to taste
• 1 to 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
• 1/4 cup pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds), for serving
• 2 oz crumbled goat cheese or feta, for serving

Method

1. Prep the squash. Heat the oven to 425°F. Trim both ends off the squash, then cut it in half crosswise where the neck meets the round bottom so each piece sits flat. Peel with a vegetable peeler or stand each piece up and slice the skin off with a knife. Halve the bottom, scoop out the seeds, and cut everything into 1 1/2-inch chunks.
2. Roast until browned. Toss the squash with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt on a half-sheet pan. Spread it into a single layer with space between the pieces. Roast 35 to 40 minutes, flipping once halfway, until the squash is soft all the way through and browned on the edges.
3. Toast the pepitas. While the squash roasts, toast the pepitas in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan, until they puff and start to pop, 3 to 4 minutes. Tip them onto a plate so they stop cooking.
4. Build the base. Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and carrot and cook, stirring now and then, until soft and just starting to color, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
5. Bloom the pimentón off the heat. Pull the pot off the burner and stir in the pimentón. Let it sizzle in the residual heat for about 10 seconds. Over direct heat it scorches and turns bitter.
6. Simmer. Return the pot to the heat. Add the roasted squash (scrape up any browned bits from the pan too), the stock, and the remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer and cook 10 minutes so the flavors come together.
7. Blend until smooth. Use an immersion blender right in the pot, or work in batches in a blender: fill it no more than halfway, remove the center cap from the lid, and cover the opening with a folded towel so steam can escape. Blend until completely smooth. If the soup is thicker than you like, add a splash of stock or water.
8. Season with acid. Stir in 1 teaspoon of the sherry vinegar and a few grinds of black pepper. Taste. Add more salt or the second teaspoon of vinegar until the soup tastes bright, not just sweet.
9. Serve. Serve it with a ladle into warm bowls and top with the toasted pepitas, crumbled cheese, a pinch of pimentón, and a drizzle of olive oil.

Notes

• Buy a squash with a long neck. The neck is solid flesh with no seeds, so you get more soup and less scooping. Pick one that feels heavy for its size with no soft spots.
• Short on time? Pre-cut squash from the store works fine. Check the pieces are roughly the same size so they roast evenly.
• Never fill a blender to the top with hot soup. Steam builds pressure and can blow the lid off. Half full, cap out, towel on top, and start on low speed.
• For a vegetarian version, use vegetable broth. For a vegan one, skip the cheese too. The soup is already dairy-free underneath.
• It freezes well. Cool it completely and freeze in containers for up to 3 months. Add the toppings fresh when you reheat, since pepitas go soft in the freezer.
• No sherry vinegar? Apple cider vinegar or a squeeze of lemon juice does the same job. Just don’t skip the acid.