Recipe+Vintage Apron: Butternut Squash Soup

While at the farmer's market, I found some lovely butternut squash and thought a nice roasted vegetable soup would be delightful. I took the recipe from the blog "A Bushel of What?" It is all about how the author uses the items she gets in her CSA each week. I love it, seasonal, local, creative, and delicious! 

Roasted Butternut Squash and Garlic Soup

This recipe serves 4-6 with plenty of leftovers.

You'll Need:

• Olive oil
• 4lbs butternut squash, quartered and seeded
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled (or less if you want a more subtle flavor)
• 2-3 cups chicken broth ( I like Pacific Natural Goods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth)
• 1/2 cup milk or half and half (optional)
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Pinch of herbs de Provence, or rosemary and sage.
• Salt and Pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place squash, cut side down, in a large glass baking dish (or two) coated with olive oil. Place garlic cloves under the hollow area of the seeded squash, so as not to burn the garlic. Pierce the skins of the squash with a fork.

Bake until squash is tender, skin is wrinkled, and the edges of the squash start looking caramelized, approximately 1 hour. Remove pan from oven and let squash and garlic cool completely.

Once cool, remove skin from squash with a knife, discarding as little flesh as possible. Place squash flesh and garlic in a medium pot. Add 2 cups of chicken broth, a pinch each of nutmeg and herbs, and puree with an immersion blender until soup is smooth. If you do not have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender and work with the broth, squash and garlic in batches and then transfer the blended soup to your pot.

Heat soup on low burner and add 1/2 cup of milk (optional), stirring to combine. Allow soup to heat through, stirring occasionally. Adjust soup to your taste, adding more broth to thin, or more herbs. However, the flavor of the garlic and squash should prevail!

It's up to you how smooth and thick you like your soup. I prefer this soup to be almost uniformly smooth and on the thicker side, but not so thick that it reminds me of baby food. If I don't have milk in the fridge, I skip it altogether. Let your soup heat up completely prior to adjusting your flavors with herbs and the salt and pepper, as the flavors need time to meld in the pot...and speaking from experience, you can over season this soup. Be patient, and taste often!

-Twill