So after my first post about this Spring Awakening I was having, in true New York “spring” form it snowed. With the temperature heading back into the 30s, I was craving a night of good tivo and something warm in my belly.
A little unmotivated to do a monster amount of dishes on tivo night, I decided to make Alicia Silverstone’s radicchio pizza from thekindlife.com and a butternut squash soup. What’s great about this menu is that it has few ingredients, the preparation is easy and it is quite nutritious!
Game Plan
- Prepare and roast butternut squash
- With about 15 minutes left in the roasting process cut and dress the radicchio
- Remove squash and begin to simmer with the vegetable stock
- After 5 minutes of simmering place the pizza crust in the oven. As the pizza crust is baking for the initial 7 minutes start pureeing soup
- Place radicchio on pizza and allow the soup to reheat as the pizza is finishing baking.
Radiccho Pizza with Truffle Oil
- 1 large head radicchio
- 1 tbsp. of olive oil
- 1 pinch of fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 tsp. of White truffle oil, to taste
- 1 fresh pizza crust (preferably a healthy, whole grain one)
- Cut the radicchio in half, then slice each half crosswise into thin ribbons (as thin as possible).
- Dress with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a few dashes of white truffle oil to taste.
- Preheat the oven to 415 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Toast the pizza crust in the oven for 7 minutes, or until it is heated through and slightly golden, but not crunchy.
- Scatter the dressed radicchio over the pizza crust and return to the oven for another 3-5 minutes, until the radicchio is warm and just starting to wilt.
- Serve immediately.
For those who are unfamiliar with radicchio as I was it looks like this:
It has such a beautiful purple color and according to radicchio.com it provides an antioxidant content rivaling that of blueberries and spinach.
My Butternut Squash Soup
Butternut squash soup was the first type of soup that I explored making back when I was living in San Francisco and over the years I think almost every roommate, friend, and family member of mine has had a bowl or at least a bread dip of it. It has been made in many kitchens and in many forms, but I think this last batch was one of my best.
One suggestion I would like to make is to get yourself a hand blender. I just purchased the Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender about a month ago and my cooking world is infinitely easier. Before I used to use a regular blender and the process of pureeing the soup in sections though doable is much more time-consuming and I never manage to not make a mess. Also as I mentioned before, it was tivo night and my dishwasherless self prefers not to hand wash a blender! I use mine all the time for soups, smoothies, and even margaritas!
- 1 butternut squash halved and seeded
- olive oil
- 16 fl oz Vegetable Stock
- 6.5 fl oz (approx half of can) lite coconut milk
- Sea salt and ground pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees farenheit
- Rub a light layer of olive oil on the flesh side of the squash and sprinkle with salt and pepper
- Flip upside down (skin side up) and place squash in a baking pan or on a cooking sheet puncturing the skin a few times with a fork.
- Place the squash in the oven and let it roast for about 45 minutes or until the flesh is completely soft
- With a spoon, carefully scoop out the squash into a 4-5 qt pot
- Add vegetable stock and let simmer for 5 minutes
- Add coconut milk and take off the heat.
- With a hand blender, blender or food processor blend soup to a creamy consistency
- Put back on low heat again to warm the soup back up and then SERVE!
Bon Appetit Friends!
grow cook eat nyc 
I was literally at trader joe’s with butter nutt squash in my hand but put it back bc I was clueless of how to make the soup!!
Will get to work asap.
XO
OMG! Bri this sounds soooo good! Can’t wait to make it this week : )
Oh thanks for the comments girls! i can’t wait to hear how your soups turn out!
Butternut squash is my fav! I’m getting the hand blender and making the soup this week! Please continue to post the great soup recipes, as that is definitely my favorite food and when made at home it’s easier to control the amount of sodium.
Ashleigh, you’re so right about the more control of sodium you have when creating your own soup. There’s nothing more frustrating when you’re at the store and want to just pick up something quick and easy and then you check out the label and your “healthy” choice is filled with sodium. For example, Campbell’s condensed Vegetable soup though is only 100 calories per serving, has 890mg of sodium! That’s 37% of the recommended daily value! Always a better option to make your own food so you know exactly what you’re putting in your body.