Butternut Squash Foam Recipe (serves 8)
Butternut Squash Foam is a Tasty Ski classic and something we have been serving as a canapé for the last 5 years. It is one of the few dishes that has stayed on the menu since we began many bluebirds ago. We serve the butternut foam in little spherical glasses and they are a real show stopper. The lightness in texture is achieved through a foam ‘gun’ (or espuma) that whips up the liquid using a nitrous oxide canister inside a sealed container. A typical espuma costs about £50 and they last for ages – all of our foam guns are 5 years old and still going strong.
The foam ‘gun’ in action
Butternut Squash Foam ingredients
1/2 butternut squash
2 shallots
500 ml chicken stock
50ml double cream
salt and sugar to taste
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius. Remove the skin from the butternut squash and chop into cubes. Cover with a little vegetable oil and place in the oven until soft and starting to go golden at the edges (about 20 minutes).
Meanwhile slice the shallots and soften in a pan on the hob.
Add the squash to the pan and pour over some hot chicken stock until just covered. Simmer for about 10 minutes until the butternut squash is very soft and starting to fall apart – this is very important so that the squash can be blended until very smooth.
Remove the pan from the heat. Pour out a little of the stock and reserve in a separate pan. Add the cream then lend the squash / shallot / stock / cream mixture with a hand blender until very smooth. The mixture should be a thick soup consistency – if it is too thick add some of the reserved stock to loosen.
Season the mixture with salt and sugar. It should be strongly seasoned as when you incorporate the nitrous oxide into the mixture it removes some of the intensity of the flavour. The nitrous oxide is flavourless so don’t worry!
If you are using a 500ml foam gun measure out 400ml of the hot soup. Pour into the gun, tighten the top and add the nitrous oxide canister. Carefully squirt out into little glasses and enjoy with a teaspoon!
Are you still looking to book your ski holiday for this winter? We still have plenty of availability left for this coming winter season. Click here for more information on our Morzine chalets and click here for more information on our Grand Massif chalets.
butternut squash foam