Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

---

As far as Thanksgiving goes, my family kept it simple: Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, and gravy. I’m surprised I’m not a picky eater considering my ma didn’t like to venture outside her comfort zone, AT ALL. But these past couple of years, I’ve been trying to switch things up a little bit and I have the BF to thank; he introduced me to the wonders of how-to-brine a turkey, and his magical pomegranate cranberry sauce (of which I was previously never a fan.).

So a couple of years ago, instead of making gravy at our Thanksgiving with our friends, I decided to make a roasted butternut squash soup (as a healthy alternative.). First reactions from some of my friends were …hostile. “Thanksgiving with no gravy? You call this Thanksgiving?! I call it LIES!” But after giving it a try, the silky texture, sweet and savory flavors won them all over. Success! Aaaand even healthy!

So this is a butternut squash. Correction, this is MY butternut squash. Look at it! Over six pounds! Awww he’s so cute. I didn’t use all of him for this recipe, but I did roast all of him. What will I do with the leftovers? We’ll deal with that another time

Ingredients

• 2-3 cups of cubed, roasted butternut squash (see below on how to roast)*
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 small carrots, diced
• oil
• salt
• 2 tsp thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cloves of garlic
• chicken stock (or veggie stock)
• lime juice

Lately, I’ve seen a lot of recipes call for simply halving the squash, throwin’ them on a baking sheet, and baking them for up to TWO HOURS. What? All because people don’t want to take the extra minute-two minutes peeling, and cubing the squash. Cmon now… I don’t have two hours, especially today; I’m supposed to be writing an essay for class. Don’t be afraid to attack this thing…with a SHARP knife. If your knife is dull, you’ll be putting more pressure on it, to cut the squash and then it slips and… WHOOPS.

Well, you didn’t really need that finger now, did you? So make sure you’re knives are sharp… because this isn’t a recipe for human soup.

*Roasting the squash:
I peeled, seeded, and cubed my squash, sprinkled it with oil, s&p, and baked it on 350 for 40 minutes. Done.

I’ve got a couple thoughts on butternut squash soup. Surprising, yes? I’ve seen some pretty fancy pants versions that call for brown sugar, maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, nutmeg, and cinnamon. The carrots and butternut squash in the soup make it very sweet; I can’t imagine how cloying it would turn with the addition of syrup…blech. Additionally, I don’t want my soup to taste like a pie; I want my soup to taste like a soup. The fresh flavors of the vegetables and the silky texture are perfect on their own, and the thyme and bay leaf act as a background of herb-i-ness that holds it all together.

Instructions

1. While the squash is roasting, throw your veggies and garlic in a pot with some oil, salt and the thyme, and let them sweat.
2. When the squash is done roasting, throw that in with the rest of the veggies, add the bay leaf and pour enough stock to cover everything by 1 inch. You can use more or less, depending on how thick you like your soup. I like mine just in the middle: not too thick, not too thin.
3. Let simmer for about 30 mins.



4. Throw it all in a blender, and blend away!
5. Now, after I blend the soup, I like the squeeze half of a lime into the soup. Lime juice adds a bright, sharp flavor, which acts like a highlighter to all of the important flavors.
6. Toppings are absolutely optional: A splash of heavy cream, crumbled crispy bacon, a plump plop of sour cream, some finely chopped fennel fronds, etc.

Like I said, this can be used as a healthy alternative to gravy… I shamelessly dipped my turkey into it. Again. And Again. And I may have “accidentally” spilled some over my stuffing… ::cough cough:: and um… sometimes, it disappears before I get the chance.

---

Leave a Note

Name^*
Email^* (will not be published)
Website

Comment:^*

^*Required

One Note

1. Clark T. says:

   November 17, 2010 at 11:28 pm

   MMMmmm, I personally love making soups, it is a lost art that alot of people (and restaurants) overlook and just put out some watered down crap, so sad. Also love that you use citrus in this soup, I use some form of citrus in a majority of my soups. Kudos!

   Reply