I am doing a double batch because I was having a bowl before bed, a bowl when I woke up, a bowl when I got home from work, etc, because it was so yummy.
Things I’ll do differently this time: use less onion, as mentioned, and spend a little more time with the wand mixer because there were a few times when I got a bit of a chunk of onion. I want to make it more smooth this time (but it would be too much trouble to put it in a blender–you’d need two big pots, one for the before soup and one for the after soup, and you’d have to pour it into the blender somehow without spilling and making a mess, and you’d have an extra pot plus the blender to clean afterward. The wand is my lazy-man’s (well, woman’s) answer.)
Ok, so tonight I made the double batch. I used 3 onions instead of 4 (so 1.5 for a regular batch) and increased the ground bay leaf, in addition to the other changes I made the first time (more cream, etc)
It came out really good. Better than the first time. So adjust the recipe how you want, but I think the way I made it tonight is the way I’m going to always make it.
Try this with butternut squash, add some fresh orange juice instead of some of the stock. Then add some finely chopped mint at the end.
Or
Add some curry powder (basic: turmeric+cumin+coriander+cayenne) at the “fry onions” stage
Or
add some smoked mozarella cheese, and top each serving with a sprinkle of crumbled grilled pancetta and a pinch of smoked paprika
Also, try roasting fresh butternut/pumpkin until soft, the adding to the stock for a bit, and then pureeing everything in the pot (I must have a stick blender, for just this task)
I take it Opal was blending the entire soup instead of straining out the solids and blending them with a bit of the liquid. So whether this could be accomplished without a second pot depends on the size of your blender and the size of your batch, OR on your patience. --You could blend half, return to pot, blend half again, return to pot, etc. until you got the right smoothness but that’s less efficient than the two pot method.
Personally, I enjoy using the boat motor for this type of thing. But, if you don’t have a stick blender, you can strain out the solids, put 'em in a regular blender, ladle in some of the liquid and puree. Stir the blend back into the soup until smooth.
You’d need one pot for the unpureed one and one for the pureed one. This is A LOT of soup. It would not fit in one blender all at one time. You’d have to do it in stages.
So I made a batch last night and it came out great; very smooth, rich and savory.
Things I did differently - I used chicken stock instead of vegetable stock and added a pinch of cayenne for some piquancy.
We had some this morning for breakfast, and I added a bit of fried up pot roast pieces (sliced paper thin and cooked on a hot pan with some butter). Also shook in a bit of cumin and a dash of chipotle Tabasco.
Things I’ll change next time - I’ll cut out the cinnamon and substitute 1/2 tsp cumin. My wife suggests caramelizing the onions in bacon grease next time, but I think I’ll just offer some crisped up beef or bacon on the side as an optional topping. (I like the soup without little pools of fat congealing in it.)