Butternut Squash Soup with Sherry; pumpkin colors

When I was young and first living on my own I decided I wanted to be a proper adult host. I couldn’t afford to stock a bar but I wanted more than a few beers in the fridge. I bought a cut crystal ship’s decanter and glasses. I filled the decanter with dry sherry.

I have absolutely no recollection as to why I decided on sherry, but I’m guessing the reason was that I couldn’t afford to stock brandy and sherry, unlike wine, stored well at room temperature after being opened. Sherry was not something that I was familiar with growing up and I don’t remember the first time I tasted it.

The glasses are long gone but I still have the decanter – and I still like sherry.

We learned a lot about sherry living in Andorra and traveling in Spain. It’s often served as an aperitif. The list of sherries being served was usually long and the wine steward always helpful.

I can’t buy sherry in France but I found a source of Spanish wines online.

My sherry stash has been replenished – some for drinking and some for cooking.

Click here to Pin Butternut Squash Soup with Sherry

Butternut Squash Soup with Sherry

Print Recipe

A healthy glug of sherry adds a certain flavor to winter squash soups that we find particularly appealing. You can leave it out, of course…. But why not try it? I use dry sherry, but any sherry will do – or Marsala, Madeira or other fortified wine.

• Author: Katie Zeller
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 2 servings 1x
• Category: Soup

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 medium leeks, trimmed and sliced, white and light green only, about 1 1/2 cups
• 250gr (8oz)  butternut squash, 3 cups chopped
• 2 1/2 (20oz, 600ml) cups chicken stock
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• 4 tbs dry sherry
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 4 tbs Greek Yogurt or sour cream
• freshly ground pepper
• pecans for garnish

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

• In medium sauce pan sauté leek in oil until transparent. 
• Add squash and stock. 
• Heat to boiling, reduce heat and simmer 15 – 20 minutes, until squash is tender. 
• Purée soup using blender, doing mainly the solids first. Add broth as needed so you can control the liquid. The moisture content of the squash can vary. 
• When all the solids have been puréed you can add more broth as desired. 
• Return the soup to heat, stir in the herbs, tomato and sherry. 
• Bring to a boil and simmer, 5 minutes to blend flavors and cook off alcohol. 
• To serve, ladle into soup plates or bowls.
• Put a dollop of yogurt in the center, add ground pepper, pecans, and serve.

Notes

Butternut squash can be peeled using a vegetable peeler. When peeled, cut of the round end, then cut it in half to scoop out the seeds.
I didn’t, but the pecans could be toasted in a skillet with a dab of butter if you like.

Keywords: butternut squash soup. winter squash

When I was in the cave, getting yet another butternut squash (remember, I harvested over 30 of them) I saw that one of my blue Crown Prince pumpkins was…. Orange.

There supposed to look like this:

Instead, one of them looked like this:

Now let me explain the bizarre part….

The orange color of the pumpkin matches reality. The orange color of the butcher block counter it’s sitting on does not match reality.

The photo was take with the ‘auto’ setting on my camera which forced a flash.

I took it with the auto setting / flash because the first photo, which I took after setting the aperture, fStop, etc. looked like this:

The blue color of the pumpkin is what it should have looked like – but it didn’t. It was orange (see above).

The butcher block counter, however, is spot on.

I have bruises on my forehead from pounding it on said counter trying to figure this out.

I finally decided it was the pumpkin’s fault for changing color in the first place.

I then took the machete to it in vengeful glee.