Roasted Acorn and Butternut Squash Soup

Even though it feels like spring right now in the middle of January, this soup is a fabulous fit for any meal.  

1 Acorn Squaush
1 Butternut Squaush
Butter
Brown Sugar
Nutmeg
Cayenne
1 shallot
6 pieces of thick bacon
6 sage leaves
8 oz Heavy Cream
16-24 oz of Vegetable stock
Salt



Starting with an Acorn Squash and a Butternut Squash, halved and oven preaheated at 400*, I like to coat my squash in some seasonings before hitting the oven.  Rubbing some butter, brown sugar, nutmeg, and a dash of cayanne over the halved squaush, these go face down on a sheet pan and then about 2 cups of water added to the pan to help the steaming process. These bad boys are then roasted for about an hour or so... until soft and tender. Once at this stage, they need to cool before hitting the pot.  While cooling, fry bacon in the pot. Remove once crisp and add the diced shallots to the drippings. Scoop out all of the squash and add to the shallots. Once this mixture is soft, start adding ladels of vegetable stock to thin out to desired texture.  Let simmer for 30-45 min.  Once mixture is well combined, blend using a stick blender until silky smooth.  Finish with heavy cream and let simmer until ready to serve.  Top with crisp bacon bits, and fried sage. Also, a cruton is always fun to have with this soup!

 

Holiday Meal #3 - Bacon wrapped chicken, Risotto stuffed tomatoes

Apologies for the small delay in posting over the holidays. It got crazy in Tahoe!

This meal was a lot of fun and also featured one dish that always seems to test my stress level. 

Bacon Wrapped Chicken, stuffed with rosemary, sage and garlic: Taking from a very traditional Tuscan dish, the main part of the meal was a chicken breast, stuffed with rosemary, sage, and garlic. This is usually made with turkey, tied then roasted.  I took it a step further. I wrapped it in bacon, then tied it.  Roasted it in a little white wine.  Now, where this dish usually gets me is internal temp and bacon crispiness.  So, when the chicken was almost cooked, I took them out and then pan fried to crisp up the bacon.  Worked like a charm!  With the time I had while this was roasting, I decided to make a sauce.  I took a healthy portion of the already amazing pan drippings and added it to a sauce pan.  Added a couple pads of butter, some sherry, sage, and dijon mustard.  This gravy turned out as a perfect compliment to the chicken breast. 

Also on the menu was some risotto stuffed tomatoes, and a light chopped asparagus salad (pictured to the right of the sauce).

Recipe: 
8 Chicken breasts, pounded flat
12 pieces of bacon (varies, just need to have enoug to wrap each chicken).
5-6 cloves of garlic
Fresh rosemary
Fresh sage
Butcher twine

Sauce:
Pan drippings, Dry Sherry, Dijon Mustard, Sage, Peppercorns, white wine, salt, brown sugar.


Finely chop garlic, rosemary, and sage and combine together in a bowl. Take chicken breast and lightly stuff a pinch of the herb mixture in the center, then roll. Wrap this roll up with bacon to cover, then tie off with butcher twine.  Roast in the oven at 350* for 30-35 min.  I also like to add about a cup of white wine to the pan to keep moisture and add a flavor base.