Roasted Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Bisque with Smoked Applewood Bacon

I tried out for the show ‘Master Chef’ this past October in New York City. One of my fellow contestants made a pumpkin soup with applewood bacon. He made it to the next round, but sadly I did not. This is my rendition of his soup. I made it my own by using butternut squash and sweet potato and made it richer by turning this into a bisque. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Please share your comments. For less-fat option substitute half-and-half with milk or nonfat half-and-half.

Step: 1

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Step: 2

Combine squash, sweet potatoes, olive oil, salt, and pepper together in a bowl; toss to coat. Pour out onto a baking sheet.

Step: 3

Bake in the preheated oven, flipping the vegetables once, until slightly caramelized and tender, about 60 minutes.

Step: 4

Place bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until slightly crisp, 7 to 10 minutes. Reserve 1 tablespoon bacon drippings. Drain the bacon slices on paper towels; crumble bacon.

Step: 5

Heat bacon drippings and butter together in Dutch oven over medium heat. Saute onion and butter in hot butter mixture until onion is translucent, 7 to 10 minutes.

Step: 6

Pour the white wine into the pan and bring to a boil while scraping the browned bits of food off of the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Cook until white wine is reduced by half, 3 to 5 minutes.

Step: 7

Stir roasted squash mixture into onion mixture; add stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until all vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.

Step: 8

Pour vegetable mixture into a blender no more than half full. Cover and hold lid down; pulse a few times before leaving on to blend. Puree in batches until smooth. Return pureed soup to Dutch oven.

Step: 9

Stir half-and-half into pureed soup; cook and stir over medium-low heat until soup is warmed through, about 5 minutes. Stir nutmeg into soup; season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and top each with crumbled bacon.

Per Serving: 282 calories; protein 7.5g; carbohydrates 30.1g; fat 14.6g; cholesterol 31.2mg; sodium 788.1mg.

The name of “stew” can refer to both a food and a cooking method. Stewing involves not fast cooking chunks of meat, vegetables or beans in a tastefull liquid . It’s similar to braising, instead it makes have a few notable differences. The meat is chopped into few of pieces instead of being processing menu all of it , and the water based material all of it covers the essential in a stew as different to a braise’s halfway all of it . When meat or raw fruit are cooked using this method, the resulting dish is called stew.

Stew has a reputation for making a rib-sticking eating process that warms you up on a cold , winter day. It’s right that ; a bowl of classic beef stew can make warming properties , but stew’s cozy factor goes way beyond preserving you from the cold . It’s all about those soft and chunks of meat and vegetables, swimming in a thick, ultra-rich gravy. The way they come together creates the greatest comfort food, no matter the weather.