Butternut Squash Soup

My go to butternut squash soup recipe- simple but delicious!


Ingredients:
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
4 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper (cayenne, nutmeg, cinnamon are also great to use a little bit of) to taste

Directions:

Cook the onion, carrot and squash 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Pour in enough of the chicken stock to cover vegetables. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 40 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender. Transfer the soup to a blender, and blend until smooth- or use an immersion blender. Return to pot (if you used a regular blender), and mix in any remaining stock to attain desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper (and the other spices if you like that nice warmth of spice in your soups)

NOTE: don't add ANY seasoning till you've tasted it- butternut squash is a delicate taste and you want to be sure to not overwhelm the flavours of the vegetables by adding too much seasoning before tasting it.


Since this recipe, I've tried a new roasted butternut squash and apple soup- also delicious.  Here it is:

Ingredients:

2 medium butternut squash, halved lengthwise and seeds removed
2 tbsp butter or oil
1 medium granny smith apple

1 carrot, chopped
1 onion

2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tsp ginger, minced/grated
8 fresh sage leaves or 1/2 tsp dried sage

pinch of cayenne
3 c vegetable broth (or chicken)
2 c water
salt and pepper
1/3 c yogurt (or cream)

Directions:

Note: roasting squash takes some time but makes taking the skin off really easy.  Once it has cooled a bit, the skin should just peel right off.

Once you've cut open the squash and removed the seeds, rub it with 1 tbsp oil or butter and season liberally with salt and pepper.  Place flesh side up on a cookie sheet and roast at 400 degrees for 1 hour.  You can roast the onion, carrot and apple for more roasted flavour if you wish- but don't do it for the whole hour.  Try 15-20 minutes. 

Saute onion, carrot and apple in 1 tbsp butter or oil (if you didn't already roast them) for about 7 minutes.  Then add the garlic and ginger and saute another minute or two.  If you've roasted all your veggies put them all in the pot, including the squash, and then add the garlic and ginger right away.  Add sage.  Add broth and water (and squash if you haven't already).  Simmer for 15 minutes, breaking up big pieces of squash.  Puree off the heat with an immersion blender or a regular blender in batches.  Stir in yogurt or cream.  Taste and adjust seasonings- add a pinch of cayenne if you like a background of heat.

Note: If you want to make a completely vegan soup, replace butter with vegetable/coconut oil, and replace cream/yogurt with almond milk.