Winter Squash Soup with Gruyère Croutons — Cozy Bowl, Crisp Topping, No Sugar Overload

High on my list of things I’ve always wanted to do but finances, scheduling or partner interest always got in the way was going to some small town for a rustic fall weekend, even though it risked cementing my unconditionally yuppie status. I mentioned this to my delightful husband a month ago in a “maybe we could pull it off this year” kind of way and a day later, he had the whole thing booked. Cue: swoon.

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And a leaf-peeping — in a borrowed Jetta, no less — we went! Alex and I headed up to Hadley, New York on Friday evening, to stay at an adorable 1885 mansion converted into a yellow, orange and aqua-exterior and rose-filled interior B&B in the early 80s. It’s now owned by a gay couple, formerly of the Upper West Side, one who cooks and paints awesome Hopper-like light-shaped oils and the other who keeps the place up. Needless to say, I immediately decided I wanted a B&B, if only so I could get up early and bake everyone scones and just-picked apple compotes.

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The first morning, our bellies filled with Richard’s Grand Marnier French toast and freshly-squeezed orange juice, we set off to Lake George to wander about as well as Prospect Mountain and as many farm stands and antique stores as I could get in before my husband started rolling his eyes. He held out an impressively long time. The foliage was perfect; I suppose a lot of people would have considered Columbus Day weekend the “peak” but I prefer the rusts, garnets and oranges that come a week later, as well as the thinned-out crowds. The air was something fantastic, with the whiff of a far-off campfire and a clarity that immediately filled our apparently-deprived heads with bounds of fresh air.

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Fingers wrapped around warm mulled cider, we took quick tour through Saratoga Springs before heading home on Sunday with the feeling we’d been away for much longer than was the case; I think it was the whole getting-up-and-out-before 10 am thing, so foreign to our weekend routines. Once home, I made us a quick crumble with a quarter-peck of Macoun apples we’d bought at a roadside stand from a woman who explained how we could turn goose-necked squash into birdhouses.

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Trying to keep in the foliage-tinged mood for as long as this temperate October will permit, I also concocted an acorn and butternut squash soup last night. Now, I should confess something here: I’ve been looking for a butternut squash soup, not laden with cream or sugar or cinnamon or any of the other things that raise something inherently sweet to a saccharine level, for some time and have had little luck finding “the one.” The confession part is that there’s simply no reason I shouldn’t have made this already, with or without a recipe. I knew exactly the way I wanted it to taste, I just lacked the confidence to experiment, which is a shame. But, this recipe called to me.

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Once you are done with the laborious task of peeling, seeding and hacking up the uncooked squash, the bulk of your work is done, and the base flavor leaves ample room for tweaking. I ix-nayed the sugar and some of the cream, seasoned it heavily with salt and pepper and shifted the flavors slightly with dried ginger and cumin. It was… almost exactly what I was looking for. That said, I encourage you to go out on your own ochre-tinted, leaf-crunching walks in no particular direction, come home and give this a try with whatever beckons you from your spice rack, as I think it could wear any number of flavors with charm.

Winter Squash Soup with Gruyere Croutons

Adapted from Bon Appétit, December 1996

At-a-glance

Ingredients

Soup

Croutons

For soup: Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the broth, all the squash pieces and the minced herbs; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until the squash is very tender, about 20 minutes.

Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender and return it to the same pot. Stir in the cream and bring the soup back to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (Can be made one day ahead — chill, then rewarm over medium heat before serving.)

For croutons: Preheat the broiler. Butter one side of each bread slice. Arrange the slices buttered-side up on a baking sheet and broil until golden, about 1 minute. Turn slices over, sprinkle with grated Gruyère, thyme and sage, and season with salt and pepper. Broil until the cheese melts, about 1 minute. Ladle the soup into bowls, top each with a crouton, and serve.

• If you are not confident in your knife skills or lack a very sharp one, roast the squash halves instead: halve and seed the squash, roast on a lightly oiled baking sheet at 425°F until soft, scoop the flesh into the pot, and continue cooking. You can also buy pre-peeled, chopped butternut squash in some stores. (Author notes she hasn’t seen prepped acorn squash.)

  

Deb’s Apple Crisp/umble

Or, evidence of why recipe-writing is not my forte.

Ingredients (Apple Crisp)

Peel, core and chop the apples, dropping them into the baking dish as you work. Stir the flour, sugar and spices in a bowl and toss with the apples until evenly coated.

Mix the melted butter with the brown sugar, cinnamon and oatmeal. At this point, you can add finely chopped, toasted nuts if you like, or process them into a fine meal in a food processor. You may replace up to half the flour with whole wheat, add more spices, or adjust sweetness to taste.

Add flour a couple of tablespoons at a time until the topping forms a dry crumble that holds together. Taste a piece and adjust sugar and spice.

Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the apples and bake at 400°F for about 45 minutes, until the top is golden and the apples bubble. If the topping browns before the apples are tender, cover with foil and continue baking.

Serve the crisp plain or with ice cream, whipped cream, crème fraîche, yogurt, or dusted with powdered sugar.

Practical Tips (pulled from the article)