Scaramouche Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

This butternut squash soup traces its roots back to Scaramouche, the long-standing Toronto fine-dining restaurant where this kind of refined, deeply flavored vegetable soup became a cold-weather signature. The technique is what sets it apart from the usual blender-and-broth version.

Four pounds of butternut squash get roasted in halves with melted butter until the flesh caramelizes against the skin. While the squash roasts, leeks, onions, and garlic sweat slowly in butter (without browning, which is the rule). The roasted squash gets scooped into the pot, simmered with chicken broth, perfumed with thyme and nutmeg, then pureed smooth and finished with a full cup of cream.

The finishing pinch of cinnamon on top sounds odd until you taste it (it pulls out the squash’s natural sweetness without making the soup dessert-like).

Chef Tips

• Roast the squash cut-side down on a parchment-lined sheet for the deepest caramelization on the flesh side.
• Soften the leeks and onions slowly. Browning the aromatics adds bitterness and changes the soup’s color from golden to muddy.
• Strain through a fine sieve after pureeing for restaurant-style silkiness. A blender alone leaves a slightly grainy texture.
• Add the cream off the heat and reheat gently. Boiling cream can break and leave the soup looking curdled.
• Save squash seeds and roast them salted as a crunchy garnish on top.

Variations

• Swap chicken broth for vegetable broth to make it vegetarian.
• Stir in 1 teaspoon of grated ginger with the aromatics for a brighter, warmer profile.
• Drizzle with brown butter or a swirl of pumpkin seed oil at serving for a restaurant-style finish.