Squash Tomatillo Bisque with Shrimp

What was for dinner tonight, you ask? A delicious, slightly spicy squash bisque. I have been working on this recipe for a while. I have made it a few times but it always "needed" something. I have found what it needed.

This soup is filling and flavorful. It has chunks of shrimp throughout, and if you garnish with a bit of sour cream, it spreads throughout the soup, cutting the heat a bit and adding another creamy dimension. It has a nice smoky flavor and a bit of heat from the chipotle pepper. You could always decrease the amount of chipotle if you are not a fan of spicy.

You could easily increase the amount to serve a larger, say Thanksgiving, crowd by using a large butternut squash, or two, and increasing the amount of chicken broth, peppers and tomatillos.

Chris, who is not a fan of "just soup" for dinner ate one bowl and loved it! He thought he was going to need something more, but the soup filled him up and was delicious.

Now that is what I call dinner success.



Squash Tomatillo Bisque with Shrimp

serves 4

1 small butternut squash, peeled, cubed and roasted

2-3 anaheim peppers, roasted, peeled and seeded

1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded if desired

1 cup onion, diced

2 cups fresh tomatillos, halved or quartered depending on size

4 cups chicken broth (or vegetable, or water)

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

5 cloves garlic, minced, divided

1 lb shrimp, shelled and deveined

1 teaspoon chipotle pepper seasoning

1 teaspoon garlic powder

salt and pepper

juice of one lemon, divided

sour cream, corn chips, chives or ? for garnish

Heat oven to 375.

Place anaheim peppers on a cookie sheet and roast in oven until skins are blackened.

Meanwhile poke two holes in the butternut squash with a knife. Microwave for 5 minutes. Carefully remove and slice in half, lengthwise. Scoop out and discard seeds. Cut off bottom end so you have a flat surface. Peel the skin off with a knife or vegetable peeler. Cube squash in about 1 inch cubes. Place in large baking dish. Drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Sprinkle with chipotle powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Remove anaheim peppers from oven and place butternut squash into oven. Cook squash for about 35 minutes, or until mostly soft.

Skin and seed the peppers. Dice.

Slice jalapenos, remove seeds if desired.

When squash is nearly done, place 2 tablespoons of oil into a large stockpot. Heat over medium high. Add 4 garlic cloves and onion. Saute until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add tomatillos and both kinds of peppers. Continue cooking until the tomatillos are releasing their juices and softening.

Remove squash from oven and add to tomatillo mixture. Add chicken broth. Bring mixture to a simmer, reduce heat if necessary. Simmer soup for 15-20 minutes to allow flavors to combine and finish cooking squash, if necessary.

Meanwhile, peel and devein shrimp. Bring remaining oil to temperature in a separate skillet. Add remaining garlic clove and juice of half the lemon. Add the shrimp and cook until pink throughout.

Remove shrimp from pan. Dice shrimp into bite size pieces.

Puree squash mixe with an immersion blender, or by processing in food processor or blender in batches, until smooth. (I like to leave a few chunks).

Put pureed mixture back in stockpot. Add remaining lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Bring back to temperature if needed.

Place one quarter of the diced shrimp into bottom of serving bowl. Add bisque.

Garnish with sour cream, blue corn chips, chives, or whatever you like!