Spicy Butternut Soup with Chorizo and Walnuts

I think I may have mentioned this before, but on a perfectly lazy weekend, I love to start out this way:

I wake up about five, but hey, it’s Saturday morning and there is no rush.  I turn on the TV to allegedly watch the news.  Instead I always fall back asleep.  Invariably I will wake back up around 7:30 when Naturally Danny Seo   is on.  I stay in bed and watch his show.

Generally, Danny helps me start my weekend with great recipes and tips.  Here’s the problem:  I am still in bed and slowly waking up.  I don’t want to get out of bed to grab a pen to jot down his recipes (which always sound delicious).   I think, “I will just google it when I get up.”

I can never find his recipes from the show.   Hardly ever.

This has happened more than once.   The most recent occurrence involved Danny making what I thought was a delicious sounding butternut squash soup with chorizo and walnuts.   I must have still been in a sleep haze because once I fully awoke and googled the recipe (which again was problematic), I found that he had instead made butternut squash vegan nachos.

??????

While I’m not a vegan and pouring butternut squash puree over tortilla chips seemed extremely odd and unappetizing to me, the flavors of the concoction and my hazy recollection got my mind to whirring.

 

Butternut Soup with Chorizo and Walnuts

Debra

A creamy, spicy and warming soup.

Ingredients

  • 2 T. olive oil
  • 1/2 c. white onion, chopped
  • 1 large garlic clove, minced
  • 1 t. ground cumin
  • 4 c. butternut squash puree*
  • 3 c. chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1 choptle pepper in adobo sauce, finely chopped
  • 4  oz. cream cheese
  • 8 oz. Spanish chorizo, diced
  • toasted walnuts

Instructions

  1. In a large sauce pan, heat oil.  Add onion and garlic.  Sprinkle with cumin and saute until just soft.  Do not brown.
  2. Add butternut puree, broth, and chipotle pepper.   Stir to combine and simmer for 20 minutes.
  3. Stir in cream cheese and chopped chorizo.  Heat until cheese is melted and combined.
  4. Ladle in serving bowls and top with toasted walnuts.

Yield: 4-6

*To roast the squash:  Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Cut squash in half length-wise and scoop out seeds.  Place the squash onto a   sheet pan, brush the flesh of the squash with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven and roast for 30 to 35 minutes or until the flesh is soft and tender.  Scoop out the flesh and puree in a blender or food processor.   Freeze any leftover puree for another recipe.  (1 lb. squash = 2 cups cooked and drained)

This turned out delicious.  The chipotle pepper gives it just the right amount of smokiness that the chorizo could be omitted.  I really liked the crunch of the walnuts, too.

Unfortunately, my cream cheese decided not to melt smoothly so I had little blobs of white.  It didn’t deter the taste though.  Seriously, this is good stuff.

 

If someone can figure out his social media, I would appreciate the assistance.   The NBC site is no help.  His own website is problematic for finding recipes from his show.  I decided to do one more search for the recipe that inspired this soup, those butternut nachos.   I finally found the video on his Facebook page.    Notice there is still just the video, no printed recipe.   What’s up with that?  (I could continue to rant about Facebook “business” pages but I will refrain.)

 

I am linking up with Deb at Kahakai Kitchen and her Souper Sundays.

 

Wait, there’s more.   I finally found the written recipe for vegan nachos on his Instagram account.

 

Again, please don’t let my awful photos and finished product deter you from this recipe.  It’s delicious!

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