Simply Delicious Butternut Squash Soup

This isn't a particularly fancy recipe.  It's quite basic, but can be spiced up to suite your menu or mood. The wonderful thing about butternut squash soup is that you don't really need to do much to make it taste good.  Microwave the squash, add liquid and a little salty flavor, and puree.  With just that, it'll taste decent.  Now, if you want to take it up a notch, adding a few extra vegetables and roasting the squash will lend more depth of flavor.  And that's what this recipe has you do, while still coming together pretty quickly and without any fancy ingredients.

If this recipe seems like more work than you feel like on a particular night, microwave the whole squash (make sure to poke holes!!) and omit all extra veggies and the apple except the onion.  I've made it this way and it's still quite tasty.

This will make a good sized pot of soup... I think I got about 8 servings.  It's perfect reheated for lunch the next few days, and it also freezes well.

If you want to make it a little richer, you can add Greek yogurt, milk, or coconut milk at the end.  Coconut milk goes particularly well if you are using the curry powder for seasoning.

What you need:

1 medium/large butternut squash, cut in half lengthwise and seeds removed
Olive oil, salt, and pepper

1-2 teaspoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 apple, cored and sliced/chopped
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste

Seasoning options:

1) 2-3 teaspoons curry powder (or possibly more if you have a mild curry powder)

2) 1-2 chipolte peppers in adobe sauce, added after apple and before broth.
2 teaspoons cumin

Start by roasting the squash.  This can be done ahead of time if you want.  Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil on the cut sides of the squash.  Season with salt and pepper.  Place cut sides down on a baking sheet.  Roast for about an hour, or until tender.  Remove from oven to let cool enough to handle.  After it has sufficiently cooled, remove skin and cut into large chunks.

Heat a large pot over medium-high.  Add olive oil.  Add the onion, celery, and carrots.  Saute for 5-6 minutes, or until they begin to get a little color.  Add apple.  Saute for a couple more minutes.  Add cooked butternut squash and stir.  Add broth and your choice of the above seasonings.  Once it has come to a boil, cover, reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for 10-30 minutes.  30 will allow more flavor-melding, but 10 is sufficient, so do what you have time for.

Turn off the heat.  If you an immersion blender- awesome!  Just puree up that soup until smooth.  If not, use a blender.  Let the soup cool a little first (maybe wait 10 minutes), and then transfer in batches to your blender.  Blend each batch until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

And that's it!  If it's a little too thick for you taste, thin with water, broth, or milk.  Enjoy!