Butternut Squash Soup

Ok, so I know how long it’s been since my last post. Don’t worry, I have been eating, I’ve just been out of town a lot (including an amazing food and wine festival in Disney World!) and have been really busy. But I do have some great things to share with you (just wait for the chicken meatballs!), including this butternut squash soup.

I don’t know if there’s a more quintessentially fall soup than butternut squash soup. Unless maybe you make pumpkin soup…. I used to get a curried pumpkin soup with apples from the Whole Foods in DC that I loved. It was so warm and spicy and the apples gave it a wonderful tartness that sent it over the edge. So this fall I was hoping to find a similar recipe, but for butternut squash soup. I didn’t quite, but I found this recipe from Emeril Legasse that was so easy, I had to try it. It may not have the apples, but it’s really good, and like I said, very easy.

I suppose I could have just added an apple and seen what happened, but I pretty much just went with Emeril’s recipe since I figured he knew what he was talking about. And we made a really delicious salad with a honey crisp apple (my absolute favorite apple variety), toasted walnuts (I burnt the first batch of course), Gorgonzola, and a Dijon vinaigrette so I still got my apple in the end.

Butternut Squash Soup #

Adapted from Emeril Lagasse

Serves 4

1 Butternut squash, about 2-3 pounds
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot
1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon finely minced jalapeno pepper
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup milk or heavy cream (optional)*

Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Peel the squash and cut into 1 inch pieces. In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until they begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the carrot, cumin, salt, and pepper. Cook for 1 minute, and then add squash, jalapeno pepper, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15- 20 minutes, or until the veggies are tender.

Once the veggies are tender, remove from the heat and puree the soup using an immersion blender, or transfer to a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Return to the heat, add the milk or cream and adjust the seasonings.

*We used skim milk, which is what we had on hand