Recipe for "squash-soup"

NAME

     SQUASH-SOUP - Makes a meal with cheese, bread, and red wine.
     Here is a rich soup which is easy to make and  popular  with
     guests.  I like this best with cheese, bread and red wine as
     a winter meal, but you can serve it as a first course.   The
     original  recipe  came from Food & Wine magazine a couple of
     years ago.

INGREDIENTS (Serves 6)

     30 ml     unsalted butter
     1         small onion, chopped
     5 ml      rosemary
     1         small butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks
     1.5 l     chicken stock
     250 ml    heavy cream
     5 ml      salt
     2.5 ml    freshly ground white pepper
               hot pepper sauce
     60 g      chopped walnuts, toasted

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Melt the butter over  moderate  heat  in  a  large
               heavy saucepan.  Add the onion and rosemary.  Cook
               for about 5 minutes until the onion is soft.
          (2)  Add the squash, chicken stock, cream, salt, pepper
               and  hot pepper sauce.  Reduce the heat and cover.
               Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about  2  hours
               until the squash is very soft.
          (3)  Use a food processor or blender to puree  the  hot
               soup.   Add  additional  stock  if the soup is too
               thick.
          (4)  Toast and chop the walnuts.  Ladle the  soup  into
               bowls and garnish with the walnuts.

NOTES

     As a variation, you may chop some or all of the  walnuts  in
     the  food  processor  or  blender  while the soup is pureed.
     This will give the soup a slightly different taste and  tex-
     ture.

RATING

     Difficulty: easy.  Time: 15  minutes  preparation,  2  hours
     cooking.  Precision: measure the hot pepper sauce.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Fred Brehm
     Siemens Research and Technology Laboratories, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
     ihnp4!princeton!siemens!fwb   fwb@siemens.com