The ongoing issue of what to do with leftover leeks continues to inspire new recipe experimentation. The latest in the series of efforts to use up remaining leeks is the Cook's Illustrated Sept. 2011 Butternut Squash Soup recipe. The soup is easily the best butternut squash soup I have ever had — unsurprising given its source. Very simple to prepare, rich and extremely deep flavor, and incredibly healthy. The key to developing the flavor appears to be pre-cooking the squash in the microwave, and developing a brown fond while further cooking down the squash on the stovetop. And to add even more rich flavor – and an interesting contrasting texture to the soup — I followed the recipe's recommendation to pair the soup with some fried leeks as a garnish. Additional modifications follow the picture of the prepared soup.
I used slightly less squash than called for in the original recipe — 5 cups instead of 7 cups, and correspondingly decreased the amount of liquid in the soup to 4 cups of water with 2 vegan bouillon cubes (instead of vegetable broth). I used slightly more chopped leeks — perhaps 2 cups — and used the remaining chopped leeks for the fried leeks, to use in total, just under one leek total for the recipe. The only modification I would make the next time I prepare the soup is to either add more plain water as called for by the original recipe, or reduce the amount of bouillon used because the soup was a bit salty, despite using only one bouillon cube with sea salt (the other had no salt added).
In addition, instead of throwing away the butternut squash seeds, I ended up washing them, patting them dry, and roasting them in the oven. I haven't roasted winter squash seeds in years, and ended up following a recipe from AllRecipes.com, though of course, I used far fewer seeds because I only prepared one squash for the soup. Roasting the seeds was a good reminder to me to be more wary of throwing away the "leftover" parts of vegetables — every part can have a role!
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