Nothing says fall like a bowl of butternut squash soup. I had bought some pre-cut butternut squash from the Costco the other day and instantly thought “soup!” So, last night I embarked upon making butternut squash soup. It had been a while since I had made it. As is tradition, I had a base recipe that I neglected to follow and came up with what follows. Jason says it’s a hit. In fact, he wanted seconds but refrained from doing so because he wanted leftovers for lunch. Enjoy!
2 pounds of cubed, peeled squash (save yourself the time and buy it in the produce section – I’ve seen it at Costco and Trader Joe’s before – do NOT use frozen as the consistency will not be the same)
3 large shallots
About 1 ½ pounds of apples (now, most recipes I found said to use certain varieties – I had a bag of little Gala apples, so that’s what I used . . . it ended up being about 6 or 7 of the little ones, not the baseball sized apples)
Canola oil
Salt and Pepper
Container of organic chicken broth (32 ounces)
Maple Syrup
Hot curry powder
½ and ½
Bacon
Heat your over to 450 degrees. While it’s pre-heating, peel the apples and shallots. Cut them into chunks the same size as the pre-cut squash. Toss the squash, apples and shallot with about ¼ cup of canola oil, salt and pepper to taste. Line a baking sheet with foil (you’ll appreciate the easy clean-up later) and put the squash mixture in it. Pop it in the oven for 45 minutes. I meant to move it around a little during cooking, but I didn’t. If you’ve got the time, you could probably toss everything around at least half-way through the cooking.
While the squash is baking, microwave up a few slices of bacon. I made two slices of bacon, one for Jason and one for me. Chop. Reserve.
Remove the squash, apples and shallots from the oven and place in a large soup pot/Dutch oven. Add the chicken broth (I almost used the entire container, but not quite), a spoonful of maple syrup, hot curry powder to taste (I probably added about a ½ teaspoon or so). Grab your immersion blender and puree everything in the pot. NOTE: If you don’t have an immersion blender, just put the squash, apples and shallots into a blender, add the broth, syrup and curry powder and blend. Then return to the pot.
Stir in about ¼ cup of half and half. Check the seasoning. Add salt and pepper if necessary. Serve in bowls with bacon sprinkled on top. YUMMY!