Butternut Squash Soup

Week one of classes is over! So much has happened since that chocolate raspberry cake.....spent way too much on textbooks, accosted groups of first year students with my club fliers (sorry, I know how annoying that is), got a parking ticket, and fell in love with it all....again. Summer already seems like another life, so why is it still hot outside?

I'm starting Autumn a little early with this butternut squash soup, but when I got the craving for it, there was no turning back. I love this sweet and savory soup so much that I have perfected my own recipe for it. In my mind, the key is to bring out the complex flavors of the butternut squash. Believe me, that squash would love to laze around on the couch. So you have to put some fire underneath it with cayenne pepper. Then spice it up a little with cinnamon and ginger, and bring out its sweet side with a dash of nutmeg.

 

One hot and buttery spoonful and I was in absolute heaven. I was soaking up the last drops with a crusty slice of sourdough bread when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.....a huge stack of readers with next week's assignments on top. Hmm. Know what I have to say? Bring it on, Fall.

Butternut Squash Soup:
Serves 6, estimated 30 min
My own recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 medium butternut squash
• 1 1/2 cups chopped carrot
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 medium onion
• 3 medium cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream (or 1/2 cup regular milk as a lower fat option)

Directions:

1.  Cut the butternut squash into 1 inch squares. To do this, I suggest using a large un-serrated knife to cut the squash in half lengthwise. Cut each section in half lengthwise again. Use the knife to cut off all of the squash's tough skin. Then dice the peeled sections into 1 inch squares. Put aside.
2. Peel and slice carrots into 1/2 inch thick pieces. Put aside.
3. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat.
4. Peel and chop onion and garlic, then add to pot. Stir occasionally until browned.
5. Mix in nutmeg, cayenne, ground ginger, cinnamon, and salt.
6. Add carrots, squash and chicken stock
7. Turn up heat slightly and cover pot with lid. When soup has just begun to boil, turn heat down to medium-low and let simmer with lid on until vegetables are tender.
8. Pour soup into blender and purée on high speed. Briefly rinse out the pot with water before pouring puréed soup back in. Season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Stir in heavy cream (or milk).
9. Serve with basil, cheese and toast.

Notes:

If you prefer a Mexican flavor, you can switch the nutmeg, cayenne, ground ginger, and cinnamon for 1/2 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp black pepper. Add 2 tbsp finely minced jalapeno pepper after sautéing the onion and garlic.

I love getting cans of chicken stock from my local Asian grocery store (Ranch 99) because prices are so reasonable. But you can save even more by mixing 3 cups warm water with 1 chicken bouillon cube. Just eliminate the 1/2 tsp salt to make up for the saltiness already in the bouillon.

Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Now that I have your attention....maybe I should introduce myself. Hi, I'm Alana. I'm a Junior at UC Berkeley and a huge foodie. Unfortunately, that student part also means that I have a pretty tight budget. I've come up with some creative ways to cook/bake/eat within my limited means and I think it's time to share them with the world.

What you will see here: Unpretentious, practical recipes. I do not use ingredients that you have to go out of your way to find or make things that require unreasonable amounts of preparation. Not everything I make turns out perfectly, but I'll always provide you with tips and possible recipe changes based on my experience.

So I led you on with that yummy picture of chocolate raspberry cake and now I should deliver, right? It all started with this...........

So just to clarify, this is a chocolate cake. And I don't fool around when I say chocolate. I mean, stacks of broken 90% cocoa chocolate bars that somehow, magically, turned into cake form. The whole thing is basically flourless (only 1 cup, for a cake that easily serves 12) and is sinfully rich like the chocolate raspberry cakes I've always admired from French bakeries.


To get started, melt all of that chocolate. While that's going, separate 7 eggs into whites and yolks. Have a large and small bowl standing by, then crack the egg. Hold the two halves of the shell in your hands and transfer the yolk from half-shell to half-shell, letting the whites drip into the large bowl. Once all the whites have gone into the large bowl, drop the yolk in the small bowl and toss the shells.

If mountains of chocolate and nearly a full carton of eggs hasn't scared you off already....you might want to close your eyes for the rest of this recipe....maybe, just maybe there will be 1 1/2 cups of sugar involved. Creamed together with two sticks of butter, some vanilla and the egg yolks. But that's not so bad, right? I took a nutritional science class once and I'm pretty sure there are good things hiding in there somewhere.

Putting that guilt trip aside, move on to the egg whites. You don't want the cake to become too dense with so much melted chocolate and butter (remember, guilt trip to the left). Use an electric mixer set on the highest speed (I've done this by hand once, and believe me, you don't want to even go there) to whip the egg whites and remaining sugar into stiff peaks. The egg whites will have so much air in them that they will stand up straight. The extra lift will help your cake to be fluffy and delicious. This will take 10 min or so, and looks like this:

Stir your melted chocolate into the sugar/butter/yolk mixture, then fold in the egg whites to finish up the cake batter. Pour the batter equally into two greased 9'' round cake pans.

Bake at 300 degrees in a pre-heated oven until toothpick stuck into the centers of the cakes comes out with moist crumbs. Start checking the cakes after 20 minutes. Each of the three times I have made this cake (they weren't all for me, promise!!) took a different amount of cook time. It depends whether you have a gas vs. electric oven, how thick your pans are, type of chocolate, etc.

Let the cakes cool in the pans, then invert onto a hard and flat surface. Move one of the rounds to a serving dish....and......omg this is my favorite part!

Wash some of these..........

Cut some of those.......

Schmear a thick layer of jam on your first cake round and cover with strawberry slices. You can use raspberries instead for a deeper fruit and chocolate flavor, but I had my grandma's homemade strawberry jam to use up, so I went with the strawberries. What do you think, good idea?

Carefully slide the second cake round on top and let the whole thing chill out in the fridge while you put together the chocolate ganache. Briefly boil heavy whipping cream before removing from heat and melting in the rest of your chocolate. Put the ganache in the fridge until it thickens up enough to use (it will be slightly cool). Drizzle the ganache on top and use a spatula or knife to spread it evenly along the top and sides of your double layer cake.

Decorate with chopped nuts (I used almonds), white chocolate, raspberries, or whatever. You can't possibly go wrong.

 

Invite some friends over and things will quickly turn from this......

To this.

Come back soon....this is only the first installment. Enjoy!


Recipe for Chocolate Raspberry Cake:
adapted from allrecipes
Serves: >12 people
Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 20 oz chocolate (darker the better)
• 7 eggs, separated
• 1 cup all-purpose or cake flour
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 (4 oz) packages of fresh raspberries, or 1 package raspberries and 1 package strawberries
• 5 tbsp seedless raspberry or strawberry jam

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. Grease two non-stick 9'' round cake pans with cooking spray or butter
3. To make the cake: Melt 12 oz chocolate in double boiler, in a glass bowl placed on top of a small pot of simmering water, or in a microwave. Once melted, set aside to cool.
4. Separate eggs, putting yolks in small bowl and whites in large bowl
5. Cream together butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Slowly stir in yolks. Pour about 1/4 cup of cooled, melted chocolate into mixture and stir to combine. This will temper the mixture so that the warm chocolate does not cook the egg yolks. Add the rest of the melted chocolate and beat until smooth. Stir in flour until just combined.
6. Using electric mixer on high speed, beat egg whites until foamy. Add 1/2 cup sugar and continue beating on high until whites hold stiff peaks.
7. Fold whites into chocolate batter, slowly and using only 1/3 of the whites at a time. Do this slowly and with as few stirs as possible. Do not worry if you can still see streaks of white. You want to keep as much air in the batter as possible to get a light and fluffy cake.
8. Pour batter equally into the greased cake pans. Bake until toothpick stuck in center of cakes comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it. Set cakes aside to cool in the pans.
9. To make the ganache: Bring cream to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove saucepan from heat and pour cream into a small bowl. Add 8 oz chopped chocolate and stir until completely smooth. Place a sheet of plastic wrap directly against surface of the mixture to prevent formation of a skin. Cool in the refrigerator until thick enough to spread (will be slightly cool)
10. Assembly: Invert first cooled cake round onto serving dish. Layer with jam and 3/4 of fruit. Slide second cake round on top. Spread ganache evenly over the top and sides of the double layer cake. Decorate with remaining fruit, white chocolate or nuts.