Beacon's squash soup, maybe.

About this time of year maybe four years back, I had a business lunch at Beacon. I attended with my boss at the time, who informed me that it was a Very Important Lunch. To which declaration I nodded serious assent, but what I was really thinking about was my meal, since I'd heard Beacon was pretty spectacular. I was a younger, less experienced Chefty then (as opposed to my current only moderately experienced self) and NYC lunches were one of the few high points in an otherwise hand-to-mouth existence.

Anyway. The lunch was actually pretty unmemorable, save for the best squash soup I have ever had. Ever. The best part of the Beacon soup experience was the presentation. They brought the soup out ladled into a heavy silver cup, which had been placed in the middle of a wide, shallow white bowl. Then the waiter picked up the soup and poured it swiftly into the bowl right before my eyes. Without sloshing! The whole effect was breathtaking. A gorgeous deep orange soup, fragrant with herbs and spices but with not a fleck of any other ingredient in sight (that's good blending). Undiluted deliciousness, I declare.

So tonight I tried to recreate this wonderful soup. It's quite tasty, but not at all the same. Mostly because I don't have an immersion blender, so it's more chunky-rustic, with the diced onions and sage and pepper floating around. It's also just a little more peppery than I remember Beacon's being, but I like the pepper. In the spirit of recipe sharing, here's what I did:

1. Cut in quarters, seed, and peel (if you want--you can always scoop the squash out after roasting) two small to medium squash (I had honey delicata and buttercup varieties)
2. Season squash with salt and pepper and seasoning of your choice. I used a little honey, cinnamon, sage leaves, a few dots of butter.
3. Cover with foil and roast at 425 for about an hour, or until you can poke a fork in the flesh without any struggle.
4. Remove squash and let cool to almost room temperature. Scoop it out and into a food processor or food mill (if you're that fancy) and puree it with a little milk or water until it's less like mashed potato and more like a thick puree. You should end up with a yield of about 3 cups or so.
NOTE: In the immortal words of Julia Child, steps 1-4 can be done ahead of time. When you're ready to make your brilliant squash soup, you can plunk that puree straight from the fridge into the pot.
5. Dice 1 medium or 1/2 large yellow onion and saute with olive oil, salt and pepper over medium heat until soft. Don't brown.
6. Add half a whole clove of garlic, a small cinnamon stick and a few more sage leaves. Let cook over medium-low for about 10 minutes.
7. Add squash puree and stir to combine.
8. Add 3 pints of liquid. I used 2 pints chicken stock (the best for making soup, homemade even better but storebought is OK too) and 1 pint of vegetable stock. You should probably have more liquid on hand if you want a soup that's a little thinner.
9. Season! I already had sage and cinnamon going, then I added one good shake of ginger, about a teaspoon of ground cardamom, and probably 1-2 tsp of cumin. Usually I don't love cumin, but it really worked here.
10. The result? A thick hearty stick-to-your ribs squash soup.
11. If you have an immersion blender, lucky you. Once you're pleased with the taste, remove the cinnamon stick, give the soup a good buzz, strain if you're fussy, and check again for seasoning.
12. Voila: (as per the above, this version is without the blending)

I didn't even have to use any cream. But if you ended up having less squash or using more stock, you might want to hit it with a little cream at the end to give it that extra smooth and creamy finish.