Squash Recipe #8: Squash Soup

Finally, a new squash recipe!

Last night, I made soup out of squash.  I tweaked a recipe from a book (because not all the ingredients they had listed sounded tasty to me), and my soup came out pretty satisfactory.  It wasn't gross or anything, I'm just not sure we have the palates for a veggie soup that isn't your traditional veggie soup, if you know what I mean.  We're definitely not used to having liquid squash.  Or soup that doesn't have chunks of meat and veggies in it.

If you are interested and want to try it for yourself, here's how I made it:

Squash Soup

1 3-pound butternut squash (or 2 smaller ones to make about 3 pounds)
2 cooking onions
butter
1 quart of chicken broth (you could probably use less--original recipe called for 3 cups but I all ready had it frozen in quart containers)
3/4 tsp curry powder
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
sour cream (optional)

• Dice your onions, and peel and dice your squash (remove the 'squash guts' too!).  Then, in the pot you are going to cook your soup in (at least 4 qt size) melt 1-2 Tbsp butter (I suppose you could use veggie oil instead) and saute the onions until tender--roughly 5 minutes.  
• Add the diced squash, the chicken broth, curry, nutmeg, brown sugar, and salt to the pot.  Bring to a boil. 
• Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to medium, put a lid on the pot, and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the squash is tender.
• When the squash is tender, shut off the stove, and puree the soup in a blender or food processor.  It will take several batches to get it all pureed; I think I did it in 4 batches.  
• Return the soup to the pot, and stir in the milk.  That's it.  Your soup is now done.

Serve in bowls.  You can swirl a teaspoon or two of sour cream into each bowl of soup if desired.  We did, and liked the way it tasted.

I served this with thick slices of homemade bread topped with Monterey jack cheese and broiled until the cheese melted (2-3 minutes).  It was also good with slices of hot buttered toast (my lunch for today--leftover soup).