Fall is finally here and is in full swing, with leaves changing colors and unlimited supplies of squash showing up in my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). So what else am I to do than to make a bowl of hearty butternut squash soup.
This recipe embraces the vegetables that’s fresh from the farm. We simply make a vegetable stock with a mirepoix and water, add the roasted butternut squash, and then blend. No heavy cream to distract from the squash, carrots and onions that I had in my share this week.
It begins with a squash, look at how cute they are! Three of these mini butternut squashes makes up for one large one. These babies are what came to me from the farmers, so that’s what I worked with.
Preheat the oven at 425ยฐF. Cut the butternut squash in half, scoop out the seeds and slice it into cubes with the skin still in tack for roasting it whole. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, season with salt and pepper and you have the option to add a bit of honey on top to have it bring out a bit more sweetness – I didn’t.
Once you’re ready, pop it in the oven and start with your mirepoix. Check out the cute carrot that we got from the bunch with two legs! Right, back to the recipe. Dice onions, carrots and celery and cook it in olive oil until it begins to caramelize, bringing out the natural sweetness of each component. This should take you about 20-25 minutes. Add water to the mirepoix and you have yourself a veggie stock.
Roast the squash until it’s soft – stick a fork in it to check it out. It took us about 50 minutes for it to get soft, if your squash is larger, it might take longer. Once that’s ready, you’re good to scoop out the butternut squash into the “veggie stock” that you just made.
Now’s the time to put your immersion blender into the pot and let it work its magic. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can also add this into your regular blender to blend it up.
And voila, just like that you have a butternut squash soup that’s not only healthy and hearty for the cold weather, but you can make a huge batch of this to last you through the week.
Butternut Squash Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium carrots, diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
4 cups water
salt & pepper, to season
no salt seasoning blend (optional)
2. Prepare mirepoix and make veggie stock. In medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil in large pot. Once the oil heats up, add the carrots, onions and celery, season with salt & pepper, and let it caramelize. Make sure not to burn the veggies but let it cook down slowly to let the natural sweetness come out – do this for about 20 minutes. Once you’re done, add 4 cups of water to the veggies, bring to boil and simmer.
3. Add roasted squash and blend. Once your squash is soft to the fork, take it out of the oven. Scoop out the squash from its skin and add the flesh to the veggie stock you just made. The water should cover most of the squash but if it doesn’t, just wait until you blend the soup to see if you like the consistency or if you need to add more water. Blend with immersion blender or in your regular blender, taste, season, and serve!
