Butternut squash crab bisque

the perfect fall twist on a soup classic that is sure to warm your belly

Tips

more vegetables?

Soups are a perfect way to use vegetables, see suggestions below to pack more vegetables into this dish. Be sure to add more cream or broth, so the soup isn’t thick.

• parsnips
• sweet potatoes
• celery root

use a crab cake!

I am a crab cake fiend! When I make this recipe, I skimp on the crab in the soup and top my soup with a jumbo lump crab cake. If using a crab cake, cook per instructions or break raw crab cake into soup in place of lump crab meat.

Butternut squash crab bisque

Preparation Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 40 minutes | Serving size: 4

Gather

• 4 cups of butternut squash, diced (about a 2-3lb squash)
• 3 carrots peeled and sliced
• 1 large onion diced
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 sprigs of tarragon
• 1 tablespoon of yellow curry powder
• 2 teaspoon old bay
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoon cumin
• 3 teaspoons Italian herbs
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup of broth (vegetable or seafood)
• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 1/2 – 1 lb of lump crab meat (you can also use a lump crab cake, see tips for cooking)
• optional garnish: crispy prosciutto, fresh tarragon, more crab

Follow

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Toss squash in 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Season generously with salt and pepper. Place in over and cook until almost fork tender. 20 -30 minutes .
   
2. ⁠In large pot, or Dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon neutral oil over medium heat. add carrots, cook for 10 minutes. Add garlic, tarragon springs, onions, curry powder, old bay, red pepper flakes, cumin, Italian herbs, and season generously with salt and pepper.  Cook for an additional 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
   
3. When squash is complete, add to pot. Mix together and cook until vegetables are fork tenders; 15-20 minutes. Stirring occasionally. If vegetable begin to stick to the bottom lower heat or add some broth to the pot.
   
4. Remove tarragon sprigs. if you have an immersion blender, add heavy cream and broth to pot, blend until smooth. If not, scoop pot contents into a blender; add cream and broth, blend until smooth.
   Optional: run soup through fine mesh strainer
   
5. Add soup back to the pot, add crab meat. If using a crab cake, cook it as normal, or break up and add to soup.  Cook soup on medium/ medium-low heat stirring continuously until soup is heated through.
   
6. ⁠Serve with a piece of bread and garnish how you’d like