Kelly Ripa's Butternut Squash Soup

 

 

In a perfect world, I would wake up each morning and share a morning cup of coffee with Kelly at 9 a.m.  Instead, reality arrives and I DVR her and Reg...I mean, Michael each day and usually end up watching many days worth at once towards the end of the week.  I love how she is so quick on her feet with her banter and her story telling ability is always entertaining.  Basically, she's everything I'm not, which is probably why I find her so entertaining.  I bore people with my stories, there's never a punchline, and quick on my feet?  Never.  I always think of "funny" things 10 minutes later when it doesn't matter anymore.  Personality wise, we are quite opposite, but I must stick with my fellow flat chested females.  She rocks it and I love it.  Oooh, and our husbands are hotties.  Love you, Josh.  Lastly, she shares some spectacular recipes on her show.  I don't know if that means she likes to cook, but I'm going with it as our third similarity.  With those similarities I'm sure she could overcome my dullness and we'd be great friends if we met.  For sure. 

 

Tonight was soup night at my parents and my mom made a recipe Kelly shared on the show last week and it was the bomb.  Seriously, you need to make this as soon as you can.  I liked it so much I'm blogging the recipe for you a few short hours after I ate it. 

 

 

 

This isn't the butternut squash soup.  This is a dish we only get a few times a year and my dad made some for us.  We used to have an Asian restaurant and this is our hot and sour soup.  Top secret recipe, sorry, I can't share, but it was a special treat so I had to put a picture on here!

 

 



 

This is the butternut squash soup.  Isn't it pretty?  Props to my mama for presentation.  She swirled our honey on top and I've got a story about those pecans.  When we went to the TCU game a couple weeks ago we went to her friends sons house before the game to tailgate.  He had two huge pecan trees in his yard and pecans were everywhere.  I mean, all over the yard.  We each grabbed a ziploc and filled it up as pecans were literally falling from the tree all around us.  When we got home we both cracked open some of those bad boys and the taste was incomparable to any pecan I've eaten.  Fresh is best.  Sadly, although there was an abundance of them, we each only took one bag.  I'm rationing mine and I might have to hide some soon because Josh eats them like crazy as well.  The fact that my mom shared them with me and garnished my soup with freshly cracked pecans shows how much she loves me.  A lot. 

 

Next time you go to the store, grab these ingredients and make yourself some of Kelly Ripa's soup.

 

 

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients For Herb Pouch

• 3 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
• 4 Whole Cloves
• 1 Star Anise Pod*
• 1 Teaspoon Peppercorn

*I didn't know what star anise was until a few years ago when I worked at an Asian restaurant in Vegas and we used it. It's a Chinese spice that's shaped like a star, hence it's name.  My mom couldn't find the pods at the store, but she found the spice ground up so we used a little bit of that and it worked just fine. 

Ingredients For Soup

• 2 Tbsps Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 3 Shallots
• 3 Garlic Cloves
• 4 cups Chicken Broth (My mom used vegetable)
• 1 Large Butternut Squash
• 3/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Steps

• Cook finely chopped garlic and shallots in olive oil until translucent, about 2-5 minutes.
• Add chicken broth, then the herb pouch (simply wrap herbs in cheese cloth to make the pouch). Then add salt and pepper to taste, and cubed squash.
• Partially cover and let simmer for 25-30 minutes until soft.
• Remove herb pouch and use an emulsifier to blend until smooth.
• Top with a drizzle of honey and toasted pepitas.  (We didn't have pepitas so we substituted pecans)

Here's a picture of star anise in case you're wondering.  Enjoy your soup!