Rainy Final-Papers-Week Blues

This afternoon I felt both very hungry and very lazy. This is always a fatal combination for me, because I always seem to start big cooking projects under the premise that, you know, bread doesn't take much effort to make! Soup is an easy dinner! Oh but while I'm down here anyway I might as well also make X, Y, and Z! Of course, that's what happened today. I've been craving bread for ages because the last two or three times I've baked it, the entire loaf has been stolen within a few hours and I haven't actually been able to eat it. I also intended to make pizza last night with some marinated cannelinni on top as an experiment, but I messed up the dough and for some reason both my cookie sheet and pizza pan are among the missing. Then, if that weren't enough, I've still had butternut squash soup on the brain and have been wanting to experiment with that as well! So, of course, why not have them all together?

 Bread is a no-brainer. This particular loaf came out exceptionally well because I left it to rise three separate times for quite a while and made sure to knead it lots. Long rising times result in more yeasty-tasting breads (as opposed to floury short-risers), and all that kneading lead to a great soft and chewy texture. I also added a bit of rosemary to this loaf.

It was wonderful slathered with nice salty butter. Buttering bread fresh enough to melt butter with its own internal steam is probably the most satisfying experience in the world.

Here's the 'shrooms and beans by themselves. The cannellini were mixed with olive oil, sage, black pepper, lemon zest, and salt and left to rest in the fridge for a couple days. The mushrooms were boiled in with the soup to begin with; I just tossed the two together in a little frying pan to toast them until they were good and dry.

And this brings us to the star of this dinner: the butternut soup.

 As usual I didn't follow a recipe for it, but I can give you directions on how I made mine!

Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

1 small butternut squash

1 redskin potato (probably any potato is fine, just not too big)

1 small yellow onion

2 cloves garlic

1 T rosemary

2-3 C vegetable stock -- optional; use water if you don't have any

2 t paprika

1 T butter

2 T milk or cream or to taste

black pepper

salt

Heat a pot on medium and add the butter, rosemary, diced onion, and smashed garlic, and pepper. While these are sweating out, peel both your potato and squash and cut into smallish cubes. Stir everything in the pot well, then turn the heat up to medium high and add enough stock or water to cover. Cover the pot and allow the veggies to cook through. At that point, if you have an immersion or regular blender, blend away. Otherwise just mash the soft veggies with the back of your stirring spoon or with a potato masher; you will probably need to squeeze it all through a strainer to make sure it's smooth this way, though. Lower the heat to medium and add paprika and milk/cream and salt to taste. It should have a velvety, plush texture, not runny. 

Enjoy.