Andy Tauer's Advent Calendar 2013 Giveaway (and a recipe)

The Grinch and Ebeneezer Scrooge together are no match to our holiday spirit tonight: we have a holiday table-worthy recipe AND a fabulous prize as part of Andy Tauer's Advent Calendar.

The winner of the giveaway will receive a Tauer Perfumes Explorer Set, with three 15 ml travel sprays (of the winner's choice). All you need to do is leave a comment (just one, please) and tell us about a favorite holiday soup (or any other special dish if you're not a soup person).

To make entering easier I'm disabling the evil captcha on the comment form for the duration of the Advent event.  If you're not signed-in into a Google account or another identifying option when commenting you'll need to leave an email address or Twitter name or any other way that we can use to identify the winner (anonymous comment #78 doesn't cut it). The draw is open to everyone worldwide (!).  The prize will be sent from Switzerland by Andy Tauer; the privacy policy of both of us is simple:  we do not contact the addressee after the prize is sent. Neither will we use the contact information for any other purpose than sending the prize, nor will we forward the address to anybody else.

I'll be accepting comments until tomorrow night ( December 23rd, around 11PM- ish Eastern US time), at which point a winner will be chosen at random.

Now for the recipe-- the Husband's butternut squash and chestnut holiday soup. We're lazy Americans and buy the squash and the chestnuts already peeled at Whole Foods (the chestnuts are pre-roasted and vacuum-packed) , the rest of the ingredients are pretty straight forward. Here's the recipe and description as written by the Blond:

"I first created this recipe for our vegetarian Thanksgiving meal.  I wanted a hearty soup that would incorporate seasonal elements. I like my soups chunky and spicy, so this version of the classic butternut squash soup has a few unique elements. First - carrots, both for taste and texture. Second is to use cut roasted chestnuts for thickening the soup. The third is saving half of the vegetables before blending the soup and adding them back in later so it ends up pretty chunky. The result is sweet, savory and spicy with a wonderful aroma and flavor."

Ingredients for 3-4 servings:

2 lb butternut squash

1/2 lb carrots (2 medium carrots)

1 cup white wine

5 cups vegetable stock

1/4 lb roasted chestnuts

1 tbsp EV Olive Oil

1 tbsp butter (optional, just add another tbsp of EVOO to make it vegan)

Seasoning:

salt and pepper to taste

chili flakes

ginger (fresh is great, powder otherwise) 

nutmeg

• Cut the butternut squash up to 1/2 inch squares and the carrots to 1/4 inch chunks.

• Heat the soup pot or dutch oven on medium-high and melt the olive oil and butter. When hot, add the squash and carrot mixture and saute for 5-10 minutes until starting to brown. The butternut squash will give off a lot of liquid. 

• Add the spices and then the wine to deglaze the pot. Add vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer.

• After about 10 minutes - when the carrots are just tender, remove half of the carrots and squash with a straining spoon and save for later. 

• Cut the chestnuts to small chunks and add half to the soup. 

• Using a immersion blender puree the soup and let it cook for another 10 - 20 minutes until the texture thickens up a bit.
• A minute before serving add back the saved squash and carrots, as well as the other half of the chestnut chunks.

Good luck to everyone and Happy Holidays!