Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Adapted from Ina Garten
This is a great autumn or winter recipe. It is hearty and rich and extremely healthy, containing only a small bit of olive oil in the entire recipe.
Serves about 6

1 butternut squash
1 apple
1 onion
evoo (extra virgin olive oil)
4 cloves roasted garlic
1 t curry powder
½ t cinnamon and/or allspice
salt
pepper
sour cream, optional for serving

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Peel and deseed and core the squash, apple and onion. Cut into rough 1-inch chunks.

2. Place in large baking pan, drizzle with a couple tablespoons evoo, salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Bake ~35 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender (=you can pierce it very easily with a fork or knife). Caramelization will have occurred and there should be some browning! Let cool a bit when done cooking.

3. In batches in a food processor (or blender), purée roasted veggies and garlic with a little water as necessary just to combine it. Don’t puree too much though—it’s nice to have some texture to the finished product.

4. Put purée in a big soup pot and add enough water (3 or so cups, depending on size of squash) to make a thick, soup-like consistency. Add spices and salt and pepper to taste and warm. Eat as is or topped with sour cream.

Notes: As alluded to in my first post, this recipe can easily be modified depending on your personal taste or what you have in the fridge. For example, an immersion blender would drastically speed up step 3—and greatly reduce cleanup! You could garnish the soup with chopped scallions, peanuts or cashews, for instance. You can also use a different type of squash, or throw in an extra onion or apple if you so choose. The spices can be altered as well—throw in some nutmeg or cardamom and see if you like it. Use garam masala instead of curry powder just for kicks. Cooking is all about experimentation and deciding what tastes best to you! Bon app y’all!