Fall Recipes: Butternut Squash Soup

03 Nov Fall Recipes: Butternut Squash Soup

When the leaves are gone, and the snow starts to fall, I crave soup. Not the cooling soups of summer, the spicy gazpachos and sweet melon concoctions. I want hearty. And buttery. The kind that calls for a loaf of crusty bread beside it just so you can sop up every last drop.

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Butternut Squash Soup is just that sort of soup. If you’re pressed for time, as I always am, you can make it in stages, roasting the squashes and fridging them overnight, and then blend the soup together the next day. Or you can make the whole thing in one session—it takes about an hour to make, but it’s a leisurely hour—you can be looking over the kids’ homework and cleaning up while you pull everything together.

As with any kind of soup, it gets better with age, so if you’re really feeling on you’re A-game, make it on Sunday and serve it on Tuesday. You can add all sort of toppings to this, such as roasted pine nuts, sour cream, parsley, chives, and bacon, and if you swirl a little cream in before serving, it goes from looking like a $2 dollar soup to a $10 restaurant-worthy soup.

Butternut Squash Soup (adapted from Bon Appétit)

Serves 8

Ingredients

1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) butter

1 large onion, finely chopped

3 large garlic cloves, chopped

3 quarts low-salt chicken broth

4 cups 1-inch pieces peeled butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds)

4 cups 1-inch pieces peeled acorn squash (about 1 1/2 pounds)

1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme

1 teaspoon minced fresh sage

1/2 cup whipping cream

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 F. Slice squash into halves, scoop out seeds, toss with olive oil and roast until soft, about 45 minutes, turning the squash every so often. Meanwhile, melt butter in large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. When squash is soft (pierce it with a butter knife to test), scoop it out the pulp and blend in stages with the onion/ garlic mixture, herbs, and the broth. Return the pureed soup to the pot and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer about 20 minutes.

Stir in cream and sugar; bring to simmer. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill. Rewarm over medium heat before serving.) Warm the bread, serve soup, add any number of the suggested toppings, add cream swirl and enjoy!