As promised, I had a plan for that turkey stock.  Originally, I had roasted Butternut squash slices, and was going to use that instead of yams for candied yams on Thanksgiving.  We had traveled to visit my sister for the holiday.  When we got to the point of preparing the candied yam “substitute”, I had forgotten the squash at home in my freezer.  A six hour drive to retrieve them was out of the question, and no one starved to death because we were missing one side dish….

There wasn’t really a lot that went into this:

• 2 butternut squash
• Olive oil cooking spray
• 3-4 c. Turkey stock (I’m sure any stock or broth would do)
• salt
• pepper
• approx. 1 t. red wine vinegar

To roast the squash, I cut the squash (2 squash, actually) in half cross wise (I wanted my squash circles to look like yams slices at least!  If I am going to mess with people’s traditional dishes, I figured I had better at last try to make them look right.)

I scooped out the seeds and goop, peeled the shell and sliced the squash into circles (hollow and filled).

I coated the pan and squash slices with olive oil cooking spray and roasted at 425°, until tender, 45-60 minutes.

But that was two weeks before I made soup.  I had pulled the frozen squash from the freezer in the morning and let it thaw during the day.  After work, I put the now mushy squash in the blender and puréed.  To get it to fully blend, I did add turkey stock as needed, so it would blend.

Once the purée was smooth, I poured it into a large sauce pan over medium heat.  I added turkey stock ladle by ladle, whisking in between, until I got the thick, bisque-like texture I was looking for,  4 ladles full (about 2 cups?).

For flavor, I added sea salt, pepper and three glugs of red wine vinegar.  (I am fully aware “glug” is not a precise measurement or any type of a term of art, but that IS the sound it made coming out the top of my bottle.  If I had to guess, I would say it ended up being about 1 t. red wine vinegar).

Once the soup was heated through, it was ready to serve.  I garnished mine with leftover roasted root veggies.  We also had a balsamic syrup left over from Thanksgiving, that a friend of my sister’s had brought over and I conned them into letting me bring some home.  🙂  It was thick,  sweet and tart; the perfect complement to a smooth and not overly exciting soup.

If Jenna wanted undying gratitude and friendship, she could share her Balsamic Syrup recipe… (Hint, Hint, Hint).