Butternut Squash Soup

Hi all you healthy humans. Welcome to New Leaf Table TV. I'm your host, Chef E, and today we're making butternut squash soup. This dish is nutrient-packed. It's super savory and comforting. It's naturally gluten-free and easily dairy-free. It also pairs well with some delicious crusty bread or a side salad. We're not adding protein to this dish, but if you wanted to add protein, you could add shredded chicken, some ground beef, or shredded turkey. Really anything goes well with this soup. So let's go over our ingredients. We have one yellow onion that's been pre-chopped, some fresh garlic, sprouted pumpkin seeds for topping, some grass-fed butter. We also have butternut squash. So this is organic, frozen. You could also use fresh or pre-chopped. Frozen butternut squash, or really any frozen veggie, is a great option to use in any dish because it is frozen at the peak of its freshness. Butternut squash has tons of benefits. It's full of antioxidants that helps with age-related damage, as well as it's high in dietary fiber. So next up we have our fresh thyme. You can also use dried if you don't have fresh thyme available, but the fresh thyme is really fragrant and adds a lot of nutrients to the dish. It's high in vitamin C, which helps with immune support. It's also antibacterial and antiviral. We also have bone broth and some filtered water that we're going to use as the base for our soup. And I love using fish sauce to add umami flavor to our soups. It's better than using a chicken bouillon that might have MSG or extra additives and preservatives. Fish sauce is just a fermented condiment that is made from fermenting fish, usually anchovies. It's fermented sometimes for years and adds an extra probiotic punch to your soup. Okay, to get started, take a medium-sized stockpot and go ahead and heat it to medium-high heat. And then we're going to add our tablespoon of butter and let that get nice and melted. We're also going to add our onion. We're going to let our onion cook in the butter for about 10 minutes. This is a really important step. This is going to caramelize our onion and add so much flavor to this dish. So don't skimp on this step. While our onion is cooking, we can chop our garlic. And if you needed to chop your butternut squash, now is a good time to do it. So we're just going to give our garlic a coarse chop and set it aside. Okay, our onion has been cooking for about 10 minutes, so we're nice and caramelized. Next, we're going to add our butternut squash right to the pan. Our chopped garlic. Our whole sprigs of thyme. If you're using fresh thyme, go ahead and add it with the whole sprig on. All of these little thyme pieces will cook off and then it'll be easy to remove the woody sprigs of thyme. Salt and pepper. Now we're going to add a cup and a half of bone broth. And then we're also going to add water. And I just say add enough water to fully cover the veggies in the pan. So this is a cup, but I might need a little bit more. I'm just going to kind of see. Yeah, I think I'm going to add another fourth of a cup of water. And just make for sure all of the veggies are nice and covered. Okay, now we're going to increase our heat and bring this to a boil. Once it starts boiling, we'll decrease the heat to simmer, cover it and let it sit for about 12 minutes until all the veggies are nice and tender. Okay, our soup is boiling. Now I'm going to turn it down to a simmer. Simmer is just low heat when you see only a few bubbles popping up every couple of seconds from your liquid. I'm going to cover the pan, set a timer for 12 minutes and let it sit. Check it after 12 minutes. You may want to go up to 15. You just want to make sure your veggies are nice and tender. Okay, our soup has been simmering for about 12 minutes. Now I'm going to take off the lid and we're going to remove our thyme. You don't want these woody stalks in your soup. Just kind of scrape off the actual herb. Okay, now we're going to take an immersion blender and blend up all of our veggies to make our pureed soup. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender. Just transfer the liquid to the blender. You may want to work in batches and be very careful when you're working with hot liquids. If you have an immersion blender, it makes it super easy. You can do it right in the pan. And I'm just going to stir it and check for any large bits that might be left. It looks like we got them all. Next up, we're going to add our fish sauce. I'm only going to add about a half a tablespoon and then taste it and you can add to taste. I think it needs a little bit more. I'm also going to add a little bit more salt and pepper. Give it a stir and one more taste. Tastes perfect to me. Now we just got to get it plated up. So grab your bowl, add your delicious soup, and top with your pumpkin seeds. There you have it folks, butternut squash soup. That's all we got for you tonight. Thanks for watching New Leaf Table TV. Until we dine again, farewell healthy humans. To subscribe to New Leaf Table's meal plan service with weekly meals and easy delivery through your existing Amazon Fresh membership, visit our website at newleaftable.com and also please hit the subscribe button to our YouTube channel. It also pairs well with some delicious crusty bread or a side salad. You could also... So frozen butternut squash is a great option. It's frozen at the peak of its ripeness is what I want to say. Ripeness, readiness, freshness. Okay. Oh man, I dropped an onion. Me and Leon. Oh more onions. They're looking everywhere. Chefy's hands are made of steel. Next up we're going to add our fish sauce. Fish, fish sauce. There you have it folks, butternut squash soup. Thanks for... What is that? What do I say? Yes, it's true. So true. Something, something deep inside. You're the one that I want. Darling, the one that I want. Are you recording me?