Red Bean & Butternut Squash Soup
1 lb small red beans
1 butternut squash
3 Cubanelle peppers
3 onions
16 cups (4 L) water
1/4 cup olive oil (plus more for sauteing peppers & onions)
2 Tbsp salt (can be reduced or omitted if desired)
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp sage
1 Tbsp thyme
1 tsp rosemary
10 medium or 20 small cloves garlic (at least that’s where I stopped counting. “One small head” is probably about right.)
Soak, drain, and rinse beans. Boil 16 cups water, add soaked beans, cubed squash, cayenne, nutmeg, sage, thyme, and rosemary. Crush in all that garlic! Add 1/4 cup olive oil. Boil until beans are soft (this will take some time).
Meanwhile, chop peppers and onions and saute in olive oil (peppers first, then adding onions) until soft but not brown or soggy.
When beans are soft, mash soup with potato masher - you don’t have to liquefy all the beans and squash, just get enough into the broth to make it substantial. Add sauteed onions & peppers. Serve with bread (a good French sourdough would be a nice choice!)
(CodCheeks - thank you for the link! Dang, I was hoping for something more like an old-fashioned egg slicer - my problem is that the tofu crumbles when I try to slice it thin. So I've decided that Facon is just meant to be Canadian Facon - sliced thick and decadent!)
Love, Columbine
