A few weeks ago, we were given two butternut squash halves. A cousin’s Instacart order had gone awry. Somehow we got squash.
We didn’t want to toss it. We didn’t know what to do with it. After boarding the squash in our fridge for two weeks a decision was made: soup.
We found a recipe that was rated well. It called for shallots. We had onions. A google search it was fine.
Four cloves garlic. All the butternut squash, roasted. A little maple syrup. It sounded like heaven. It came out okay.
Last fall, I read “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat,” by Samin Nosrat She performed a kind of alchemy. She condensed the considerations of cooking to four words.
With salt, push the edge a little, (to taste), until the flavor pops. WIth acid, the same thing same thing. There was no acid in my soup’s recipe! I brought Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar to the rescue. And added creamy ricotta cheese as a garnish to cover the fat. (The soup was toasty warm).
I’d never made a butternut squash soup before. But I had good instruction and I had experience and experimented with them. The soup was excellent.
It doesn’t turn out that way all the time but:
Instruction + experience + experimentation + time (eventually) = excellence
timmyr.com 