Butternut squash and sausage soup

Devoid of any cooking motivation today, I took the lazy way out.  I stopped by the FoodNetwork's website, looking for inspiration.  Some days I'm not really in a mood to get creative in the kitchen, but I'd rather have my cooking than that of another, so it's nice to have a place to look for ideas, or just a recipe I can make, provided I have the ingredients on hand.  It's cold here now, and trips to the store for ingredients are less appealing than they are in the summer.

I had made bread earlier, and soup sounded good.  I stumbled upon a butternut squash and sausage soup recipe.  It looked great, and sounded good.  I didn't have everything on hand, so I adapted the recipe quite a bit.  However, even with my adaptations, I don't feel as though I can re-post the recipe, so I will provide you a link, then a list of the changes I made.  The recipe can be found here.

 

The changes I made:

I had a rather large squash, so ended up with 6 cups vs. the four called for in the recipe.  I'm glad I had more.  I also was concerned the water in the recipe would not add enough flavor, so I did away with the 2-1/2 cups of water, and doubled the chicken stock.

I didn't have the prescribed sausage, and used what I had, which was a spicy bratwurst.  It was really good.  I think just about any flavor would work in that role.

I wanted the soup to have a bit of a bite, so I added a pinch of red pepper flakes, and a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon to the blended soup.  Great adds.  I would do it again.

I did skip the fried sage leaves.  I didn't want the mess, but I'm intrigued by the idea, and may try it next time.

I found the soup needed more salt in the final seasoning than I expected, but I'm glad I didn't hold back.  It wasn't an obscene amount, but it was needed to pull the flavors together.

The blended soup was slightly runny, and I wanted a thicker soup, so I tightened it up a bit, and I'm glad I did.  I used 1-1/2 tablespoons of corn starch, and 1/4 cup cool water; stirred until blended, then added to the blended soup, simmered until thickened.

Before I served it, I topped it with sour cream, and some fresh grated nutmeg, neither called for in the recipe.  It was a super finish.

 

Cliff said he loves this soup more than my tomato soup, and he's pretty crazy about that one.  I really liked it.  With the above changes, I would recommend it.  I would worry about the flavor intensity without at least the removal of the water, and the doubling of the chicken stock, so if you make no other change, that's one I would suggest.

Such a nice treat on a blustery fall day.