Oakland food writer and cooking teacher Rosetta Costantino is known for recipes that celebrate her Italian heritage, translated with Northern California ingredients. Her first cookbook, “My Calabria,” explored rustic family cooking from a region of Italy that’s relatively undiscovered by American cooks. Her follow-up, “Southern Italian Desserts,” broadened the geography to include Campania, Basilicata, Puglia and Sicily, as well as Calabria.
Costantino’s small cooking classes, which are normally held in her Oakland kitchen and garden, are on hold right now. But you can capture some of those flavors with a peek at her blog, Cooking With Rosetta, where the tempting recipe lineup includes this flavorful butternut squash soup. Here, the squash is roasted with garlic and onions, then pureed with broth to make a stunning autumn soup.
Use regular olive oil for drizzling over the squash and vegetables before they go in the oven. Save the olio nuovo — the zesty first-press new olive oil — for garnishing the soup.
Zuppa di Zucca (Roasted Butternut Squash Soup)
Serves 6
Ingredients
1 unpeeled garlic head
2 pounds butternut squash, unpeeled, seeds removed, cut into 10 pieces
1 large onion, unpeeled, cut in half, vertically
3 tablespoons olive oil
8 fresh thyme sprigs
2 cups (or more) chicken broth or vegetable broth
Minced fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Olio nuovo for drizzling
Directions
Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut 1/3 inch off the top of the garlic head, exposing the cloves. Arrange the garlic, squash and onion cut-side up in a large baking dish. Drizzle the vegetables with olive oil. Scatter the thyme over the vegetables.
Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake until the squash is tender when pierced with a knife, about 1 hour. Uncover the vegetables and cool for 10 minutes.
Scrape the squash flesh from the skin into the bowl of a food processor or blender. Peel outer layers and trim root end from onion halves. Add onion to processor. Separate 6 garlic cloves from head and squeeze the garlic into the bowl. Puree the vegetables until smooth. Add more roasted garlic, if desired.
Transfer the puree to a large, heavy pot. Whisk in 2 cups chicken broth. Stir over medium heat until heated through, adding more broth, if a thinner consistency is desired. Season with salt and pepper.
Ladle into bowls and garnish with parsley, a drizzle of olio nuovo or other special olive oil or whatever garnishes you’d like. If you wish, you can serve the soup with crostini spread with the remaining roasted garlic.
— Courtesy Rosetta Costantino, www.cookingwithrosetta.com
