This Wild Season

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Butternut Squash Soup with Bacon, Goat Cheese, and Pistachios

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I’m so excited to share this post with you today! This recipe. You guys. I really thought I knocked it out of the park last week with the most ridiculously delicious pumpkin cheesecake. I gotta be honest though, I’m more of a savory/salty kinda gal than a sweets one. So this butternut squash soup with bacon AND goat cheese AND pistachios is really just the perfect thing.

I’d never worked with butternut squash until my mother-in-law bestowed one upon us after one of our holiday gatherings in Maryland a couple years ago. She ran out to the car as all the kids were packing things into our respective cars, and I caught a glimpse of her placing some sort of squash in our trunk. A couple days later, I got a perplexed text from my sister-in-law in Chicago, “Did you have a butternut squash in your trunk too?”

I’m not sure what she ended up making with hers, but I promptly scoured Pinterest for a recipe for butternut squash soup. Our first attempt a few years back was not nearly as glorious as the recipe before you now. But I do apologize for the unhealthiness accept your gratitude for the deliciousness of this recipe.

The initial inspiration for this recipe came from this one over on Half Baked Harvest – her food photos are simply amazing. I saw one photo of her soup on Pinterest and knew I wanted to try something similar. The flavors I aimed for were quite different, but I always love pointing back to my source of inspiration when I can!

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Butternut Squash Soup with Bacon, Goat Cheese, and Pistachios

Asharae Kroll
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Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 40 mins
Total Time 55 mins
Servings 4 -6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 medium butternut squash peeled, seeds scooped out, and diced
  • 2 large carrots peeled and diced
  • 1 onion diced
  • 1 apple peeled, cored, and cubed
  • 2 cloves of garlic minced
  • 1 tsp fresh thyme
  • 1/4 tsp dried sage
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 32 oz vegetable broth
  • 1 c heavy cream
  • 1 package of bacon
  • 4 oz package of goat cheese
  • Shelled pistachios

Instructions
 

  • Place bacon in a cold pan, heat to medium and cook till crispy. Set on paper towels to cool. Reserve bacon grease. Once bacon is cool, crumble into small pieces.
  • Add 3 Tbs bacon grease to a large stockpot and heat over medium. Add carrots, onion, and diced butternut squash and sauté for 5-7 minutes, or until veggies start to soften.
  • Add apple, thyme, sage, salt, and pepper, and sauté 3-4 more minutes. (Add another Tbs of bacon grease if necessary.)
  • Add garlic and sauté one more minute, then add vegetable broth, scraping the delicious bits off the bottom of the pan. Add bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 6-8 minutes, or until the veggies and apples are soft. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
  • Remove bay leaf and use an immersion blender to blend the soup to a smooth consistency. Alternately, you can carefully blend the soup in batches in a blender. (Side note - if you don't have an immersion blender, it's a worthwhile investment - perfect for soups, smoothies, salsas, and other things - we use ours all the time!) Once the soup is smooth, stir in the heavy cream.
  • Serve topped with bacon, goat cheese, and pistachios. Drizzle with a little extra heavy cream to make it pretty. Enjoy!

Notes

To more easily peel your butternut squash, use a fork to poke holes all over. Heat for 1-2 minutes in the microwave. Let cool, cut each end off with a knife, then use a vegetable peeler to remove the skin. To dice, cut your butternut squash in half, separating the taller skinny half from the wide fat end. Place each half of the squash on your cutting board, cut side down, and cut each one in half. Scoop the seeds out and then lay each quarter on your cutting board, flat side down and slice into 1/4 in - 1/2 in slices. Dice up each slice into smaller pieces and you're ready to use it in your soup recipe!

We use this Cuisinart Immersion Hand Blender and absolutely love it!

(Full disclosure – That’s an affiliate link above, so I’ll receive a small percentage of your purchase if you click through the link. I appreciate your help in keeping This Wild Season up and running!)

Simple Vegetable Soup

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In an effort to save space, I titled this post “Simple Vegetable Soup.” What I actually scribbled down on the scrap of paper as I made the soup was – “Use-What-You-Have-In-Your-Pantry-Veggie-Soup.” I personally like that name a lot better. It’s a much better description of the story of this recipe.

Tim and I have been traveling a lot lately – between our three week road trip to three different weddings, several other short weekend trips away for weddings here in NC, and a roommate reunion with my college friends, we’ve put a lot of miles on the road lately. This means that our eating has been less than stellar. And the state of our fridge is abysmal at times. For being a go-with-the-flow kinda gal, I really love to have my meals planned out. I like shopping the menu to save money and save space in our fridge too. I’m the kind of person that wakes up thinking about dinner, and I love being able to look forward to something I know will be delicious. I think the last time we had that sort of routine was back in the summer. Or maybe late spring. It’s been a busy one.

All that being said, the other night Tim and I were wrapping up our editing for the day and looking towards dinner. It was one of those stare-at-the-fridge-hoping-something-will-appear nights. I scrounged around a bit and found we had enough ingredients in the fridge and few staples in the pantry to whip up a batch of soup. (Sidenote – I highly recommend keeping cans of beans and veggies, and a couple cartons of vegetable or chicken broth in your pantry for just such an occasion.)

Nights are getting chillier here in NC and the sun is setting unreasonably early, so a bowl of warm soup is the perfect antidote to the dark and cold outside. And I rejoiced at how this seemingly thrown-together soup turned out – it’s hearty and delicious with just the right amount of spice. We served ours with grilled cheese on the side – so good.

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This soup has a little kick to it – you’re more than welcome to leave out the jalapeños and can of green chilies if you don’t like spicy food. I recommend adapting this recipe to whatever you have on hand. I’m sure it would be great with a can of corn, some potatoes, perhaps some celery. Feel free to add more vegetable or chicken broth (or water) if you like your soup to have more broth than veggies, just adjust your salt and pepper accordingly.

Simple Vegetable Soup

Asharae Kroll
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Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 40 mins
Total Time 50 mins
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Tbs butter
  • 1 Tbs olive oil
  • 1 yellow onion diced
  • 4 medium carrots sliced
  • 2 jalapeños diced and seeds removed
  • 1/2 bell pepper diced (use a yellow one if you're looking to make this soup pretty)
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 7 oz can green chilies
  • 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
  • 1 32 oz carton of chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1/2 lb pasta we used elbow pasta
  • 1/4 tsp oregano
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Optional: Garnish with parsley

Instructions
 

  • Cook pasta according to package directions, rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Add 1 Tbs olive oil, stir, and set aside.
  • While the pasta is cooking, heat oil and butter in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add carrots and peppers, cook about 3 minutes. Add onion, green chilies, and jalapeños, and cook about 5 more minutes or until tender. Add garlic, cook for one minute.
  • Add broth and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20-30 minutes. Add oregano, and salt and pepper to taste.
  • Place noodles in bowls, ladle soup over the top, and serve. Garnish with parsley if you wish (or if you have leftovers in your fridge like me!)
  • I store leftover soup and noodles separately so the noodles don't get too soggy in the fridge.

Flour sack towel from The High Fiber – check out more of her gorgeous work at her Etsy shop!

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Thai Nachos

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This recipe was inspired by my brother. He worked with a summer program through UNCC this past July and they took their group of high school kids down to Wilmington for a week of fossil hunting and rock finding. One night my brother Christian texted me from the fabled Flaming Amy’s Burrito Barn – a restaurant known for…. you guessed it – burritos! Somehow in all our trips to Wilmington, I’ve never been – someone tell me – is it worth all the hype?

Christian sent me a photo of the dinner he had ordered – any guesses? Don’t get too far ahead of yourself – it wasn’t a burrito. I know, I know. That’s probably sacrilegious or something. But he’s always one to think outside the box when it comes to food. Instead of a burrito he ordered Thai Nachos. THAI NACHOS. Cue heavenly music. My response was pretty much – WHAT. Tell me everything! Tim and I hadn’t eaten dinner yet, so when he texted back with a list of all the toppings, we obviously dropped everything and made our own version of these nachos for our dinner.

I was tempted to keep this recipe to myself – perhaps to break out at our next Superbowl party or something. But no. That would be cruel. Cruel to serve you so many veggies at a Superbowl party and also cruel to keep this recipe to myself. You really must try these nachos for yourself.

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Thai Nachos

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Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 10 mins
Total Time 25 mins
Servings 2 -3

Ingredients
  

Dressing

  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1.5 tsp fresh ginger minced
  • 2 Tbs tahini can substitute peanut butter - heat for a few seconds in the microwave to soften
  • 1.5 tsp soy sauce
  • 1.5 tsp fish sauce find this in the Asian food section of your grocery store
  • 1.5 Tbs sweet chili sauce
  • Zest and juice of 1 lime

Nachos

  • Tortilla Chips
  • Cheese shredded
  • 1 Bell Pepper cut into bite-size slices
  • 1/4 of a Red Onion cut into thin slices
  • Edamame find in the frozen veggies section - purchase the pre-shelled edamame
  • 2 Carrots peeled and grated

Garnish

  • Cilantro
  • Green onions

Instructions
 

  • Whisk dressing ingredients together, set aside.
  • Heat a large pan with a drizzle of olive oil. Add red onions and bell peppers and sauté till slightly tender, about 4-5 min. Set aside when finished.
  • While sautéing the veggies, heat a pot of water and cook the edamame according to the package directions (usually 4-5 minutes, or until tender). When finished, drain and run under cold water for a few seconds to stop the cooking.
  • Assemble nachos on a large rimmed baking sheet (not pictured). Cover the pan with chips, sprinkle half the cheese on top, add bell pepper, red onion, grated carrots, and edamame. Add the rest of the cheese and bake at 400 for about two minutes, or until cheese begins to melt. Turn the broiler on and broil for about one minute, till cheese is melted and begins to bubble.
  • Garnish with cilantro, green onions, and drizzle the dressing on top. Enjoy immediately.

Notes

Feel free to add other veggies to this dish or even add cooked shredded chicken for a little more protein.

 

Guest Post by Tim Kroll – Focaccia / Pizza Dough

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This pizza dough recipe is a long-standing tradition in my husband’s family, so I felt it was only appropriate that he write about it! We’ve taken a little liberty with the recipe itself, and discovered that it makes an excellent dough for focaccia as well! Today I’m just sharing the recipe for the dough and photos of the focaccia version – if you’d rather make pizza, you can be creative with your own toppings!

A while back my in-laws gifted us one of those three-ring-binder-church-cookbooks full of recipes from families in the church where Tim’s mom grew up. I love it because I know that there is family history within the pages of that book – each recipe has a story behind it and belongs to a family that enjoyed it enough to share with the whole church. I know that on page 58 I’ll find a recipe for “Pizza From Scratch,” with notes scribbled in the margins. Without further ado, I’ll let Tim share his family’s story of this recipe.

My family likes traditions.  Traditions like riding in the car all cozied up on Christmas Eve looking for the neighborhood with the best light display, gathering around the Thanksgiving table with the plethora of family on my mom’s side, celebratory birthday banners that appeared the morning of each of our birthdays – sneakily designed by someone in the family, and french toast every Sunday morning (but seriously, every Sunday morning).  These are just some of the fun traditions I had growing up.

Another wonderful tradition that we started when I was in middle school was weekly homemade pizza. We’d usually rent a movie from one of the local rental stores and top the pizzas in whatever way our hearts desired.  Inevitably my mom would try to sneak healthy things like green peppers or wheat germ into the recipe, but it still made for a tasty meal!  I love how the pizza crust isn’t a thin crust, but also isn’t so doughy that you feel like it’s more bread than toppings.  Growing up we usually made 3 or more pizzas, went downstairs to watch our movie while we ate, and put the left-overs (if we had any) in a ziploc bag to be enjoyed the next day for lunch.  If I ever had friends over to share in the tradition, they’d always tell me (and mostly my mom) how delicious the pizza was.

When dressing the pizza, I fully recommend using a spoon to spread the sauce on the dough, and because I’m not a huge crust person, I would try to get the sauce as close to the edge as possible (within a half inch or so).  Get a good mozzarella cheese blend to top the sauce, and then ever so carefully spread your desired toppings equally spaced along the top.  I like to think that with all the years practice I’ve had growing up, I’m pretty good at spreading the toppings on the pizza in the most precise manner possible! (Asharae’s note: Tim takes this very seriously. Can you tell he’s more of a mathematician than I am?)

One thing to note, my mom loved it when she got a bread machine that could mix the ingredients together for her.  Even if you don’t plan ahead, you could easily get inspired to make pizzas while reflecting on a delicious lunch, and still have plenty of time to make the homemade pizza dough and get it ready in time for dinner. I have used store-bought pizza dough in the past, but it never has been as good as this recipe.

I hope that you’re reminded of your own family traditions as you make this recipe, and who knows, maybe it will get a new spot in the rotation of your family’s traditions!

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Simple Pizza Dough / Focaccia

Makes two large cookie-sheet-sized pizza crusts.
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Prep Time 1 hr 30 mins
Cook Time 20 mins
Total Time 1 hr 50 mins
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

For Dough

  • 1 1/4 c warm water
  • 2 Tbs vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 4 c flour
  • 1 package dry yeast 2 1/4 tsp

For Pizza

  • Pizza sauce of your choice
  • Mozarella Cheese
  • Toppings of your choice

For Focaccia

  • Olive oil
  • Kosher salt
  • Italian Seasoning
  • Fresh grated parmesan cheese

Instructions
 

  • (With a bread machine) Place ingredients in bread machine in the order listed (unless your bread machine manufacturer recommends something different). Choose the Dough setting and the largest loaf size. Let the bread machine work its magic!
  • (By hand) Sift flour and salt together, set aside. In a separate bowl dissolve yeast into warm water, stir in 2 Tbs vegetable oil. Pour into flour and salt mixture and stir until it comes together. Knead vigorously until smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball. Place in a greased bowl, brush with oil, cover and let rise until doubled in size.
  • Once dough is ready, divide in half and spread on two floured baking sheets.
  • (For pizza) Brush crust lightly with olive oil (this keeps it from getting soggy from the sauce), top with sauce and toppings of your choice. Bake 15-20 min at 400. Broil for a minute or two if your cheese isn't bubbly enough.
  • (For focaccia) Once dough is spread out, make divots in the surface of the dough with your fingers. Try not to poke through the dough - these divots will hold the olive oil. Drizzle several Tbs of olive oil over the top of the dough, allowing it to pool in the divots you made. Sprinkle dough with kosher salt, Italian seasonings, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Bake for 10-12 min at 400. Broil for a minute or two if you'd like the top to be crispier.

Notes

This dough is freezable. I usually make the full recipe and then place half of it in a freezer safe ziplock bag and freeze it till later. When ready to bake, simply let the dough come to room temperature first, spread on a floured baking sheet as usual, and bake as instructed.