On the Side...Butternut Squash and Crab Soup

As promised in yesterday's post Party Prep with My Pal,  here is my recipe for one of my favorite soups.

Butternut Squash and Crab Soup

5 c water
2 very large butternut squash, with an extra small one
Kosher salt
1 1/2 c light cream (or more, depending on your calorie count, just take some water out)
pinch of white pepper
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of cayenne pepper
2 tbsp good sherry (not cooking sherry)
one small onion, chopped
1 lb. lump crabmeat (canned is what I use)
Small sage leaves for garnish


Peel and chunk the squash (I use pre-peeled from the market).  Cover it just to the top of the squash with the water in a large pot, add a good amount of salt, and if you need to add more squash to come to the top of the water, do so, or, take some water out.  Just don't use more than 5 c water.  Boil until it comes apart with a fork.  Meanwhile, saute the chopped onion in a bit of olive oil and a pat of butter.

When the squash is super soft, add the sauteed onion and puree in the pot with an immersion blender.  Blend until the squash, onion and water are silky smooth.  If you don't have an immersion blender, use your blender. Turn the heat down to low.

Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, salt to taste, dash of white pepper, dash of cayenne, and the sherry.  Stir well.  To add the cream to the hot soup, pour it into a bowl, and ladle some of the hot liquid into it to slowly bring the cream to the temp of the soup.  Then add back into the pot.

Now you need to do some taste testing.  The spices here are given in amounts that won't offend, but can easily be adjusted to your personal taste.  Strengthen the cayenne, cinnamon and nutmeg one at a time, or not at all, depending on what you prefer.  Add enough salt, a bit at a time, to ensure that the soup is not flat tasting.   You can also add more sherry.  Just go slowly so you don't overdo anything.

To add the crab, first put it on a plate and pick through it a bit to make sure there are no pieces of shell.  Brake it up into flakes as you add it to the soup.

This makes a huge pot of soup.  I've never halved it, but I'm sure it would be great if you do.  As I've said in other posts, I am definitely not a recipe writer, so I apologize that I leave some of the final seasoning to you.  I am a cook by intuition, risk, and taste.  This is a soup, however, that's pretty hard to screw up, unless you add more than a dash of the pepper!  Enjoy!

If you have any questions, please comment or email, I'd love to help you!  If you make it, please leave a comment on how you tweaked it to make it your own.

For those of you new to this blog, "On the Side" is the occasional sharing of my passion for food and cooking.  Sofas & Sage is named for my love of  Tasteful Design and Tasty Food.  Like a sprinkling of herbs,  the "Sage" part comes in small doses :).

Talk to you soon,
Carol