Butternut Squash Soup with Cornish Hens and Veggies
Want another version of Squash soup? Try this Butternut Squash Soup with Cornish Hens and Veggies. Very hearty and healthy. This dish can be made in place of the Haitian traditional Soup Joumou.
Making Butternut Squash Soup with Cornish Hens
This unique soup contains about the same ingredients. There are only two significant differences. The first main ingredient is a couple of cornish hens marinated for a few hours, roasted in the oven, and added to the soup at the right moment for simmering. The Cornish hens can be replaced by regular chicken or red meat, preferably beef.
The second ingredient is the type of squash. The traditional Haitian soup, Soup Joumou is made with Calabaza Squash, a kind of squash found in many Caribbean islands and the many Caribbean or West Indian markets if you live overseas. Since butternut squash is available in most supermarkets, this soup can be enjoyed anytime.
Butternut Squash Soup with Cornish Hens and Veggies is full of vegetables. If you prefer to make the soup without meat or poultry, feel free to add seafood.
To make this soup, make sure you have a good baking dish or baking sheet pan and a good stockpot. You may also want to have a hand blender handy as it will come handy when smashing the butternut squash.
I would advise choosing a firm fish as it will probably hold its shape while cooking in the broth. It better yet cooks the fish separately from the soup and adds it at the end.
Happy cooking!
Butternut Squash Soup with Cornish Hens and Veggies
Ingredients
- 4 lb butternut squash diced to 2.5cm (1″ cube)
- 8 cups water
- 2 medium cornish hens or 2 pounds Chicken – legs and thighs
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 medium limes
- ¼ cup white onions sliced
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons parsley chopped
- 2 stalks scallions chopped
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon crushed peppercorn or black pepper
- ½ tablespoon fresh thyme leaves only
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup carrots sliced
- 1 stalk celery thinly sliced
- 1 ½ cups leeks thinly sliced, about 1 large leek
- ½ cup red sweet pepper sliced
- 2 medium potatoes cut into 1.5cm (0.5″ cubes)
- 2 medium turnips cut into 1.5cm (0.5″ cubes)
- 2 medium parsnips cut into 1.5cm (0.5″ cubes)
- 3 teaspoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup pasta noodles uncooked, preferably small shaped pasta
- 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon hot pepper sliced or hot pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
- Cut the Cornish hens. Cut 1 lime in 2 pieces. Clean Cornish hens with lime.
- Rinse the hens pieces with cold water, pat dry and put aside.
- In food processor, add juice of the other lime, onions, garlic, parsley, scallions, salt, ground pepper or ground peppercorn, thyme, 1/3 cup of olive oil and hot pepper. Blend until a smooth texture is formed.
- Pour mixture onto Hens and let marinate for at least 30 minutes or overnight for flavor enhancement.
- Once the hens have been marinated for at least 30 minutes, remove meat from marinate, place pieces on a prepared baking dish and bake at 425°F in the oven for 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, add marinade or spices in skillet and let cook for about 5 to 7 minutes on low heat.
- The cooked marinade is to be added to the soup later on.
- In a large stock pot, add squash and water and let cook until softened over medium high heat on stove. Make sure the pot is covered for faster cooking. Once the squash pieces are cooked, let cool for 5 minutes and purée with hand blender or regular blender and set aside. Mixture can stay in stock pot for easy use later on.
- Over medium high heat in a large skillet, add 1 tablespoon olive oil, carrots, celery, leek and red pepper. Let ingredients cook for about 8 to 10 minutes stirring occasionally. While the vegetables are cooking, heat up squash in stockpot and add cooked marinade mixture. Once it starts to boil, add hens pieces. If you prefer you may not use all the pieces as the soup will be very meaty.
- Let cook for 10 minutes, add potatoes, turnips, parsnip, and butter. Let soup boil and cook until the last ingredients are halfway cooked. Add pasta noodle and adjust taste by adding chicken bouillon, salt and pepper.
- Let soup cook for another 8 – 10 minutes depending on the size of the pasta noodles. Serve hot.
Notes
Nutrition
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the products used.
Nutrition info is automatically generated and provided as a courtesy and as an estimate only.
