Nothing says Fall like Butternut Squash Soup! I really enjoy making this soup on weekends and on special occasions. It is fairly simple in terms of method, but just takes some time to make! It requires some prep time, baking time (almost an hour) and then after baking – cooking time. All in all I would say it takes me roughly 2 hours from start to finish.

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

- Butternut Squash (one medium sized squash will do)

- 2-3 Apples

- Some herbs and spices (I used nutmeg, cinnamon and curry in yesterday’s – I’ve also used fresh sage and rosemary too)

- Olive Oil

- Onion

- Chicken boullion

- Heavy Cream

- Extra’s: Bacon, Sour Cream and Green onion (for toppiings – I only used sour cream last night)

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Method:

1) De-core 2-3 apples and place in a bowl. I leave the skins on

2) Peel a butternut squash. Easiest way to do this is cut the ‘bulb’ end away from the ‘long’ end. I use a medium sized knife that is incredibly sharp to peel, but a very heavy handed knife to do the actual slicing and dicing. I also use gloves to do this, as last time a nasty film got on my hands and it took hours to come off.

3) Once peeled, place in a bowl with the apples and drizzle with Olive Oil. Add your choice of spices. Yesterday’s selection was cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper, and a touch of yellow curry.

4) Place on a cookie sheet in an oven, heated to 400 degrees for 1 hour. It is done when you can pierce the squash with a fork easily. Some brown spots are ok! In the words of Gordon Ramsey “when it is brown it’s cooked, when it is black it’s f***ed)

5) When you have about 5 minutes to go: peel and dice an onion and place in a soup pot on medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil and some nutmeg. Cook until onions are translucent.

6) The squash is cooked! Place in the soup pot with the onions. With the chicken stock bouillon - make a chicken stock of about 175 mL. Put in the soup pot. Note: you can use water, but I think it greatly affects the taste of the final product!

7) Start mashing all the yummy goodness together. Once you have mashed, grab your immersion blender and start blending. Note: You may use a food processor or maybe one of those Vitamix things (I don’t have one, so I am unsure). I just find the immersion blender easier to use (and less clean-up…I hate cleaning the food processor).

8) Once it is all nice and blended – take the mix and strain through a strainer using a spatula, with the soup drippings going into another pot or just a bowl. This step isn’t an absolute must – but I find it makes the soup nice and creamy. If you like your soup chunky – skip this step! If you choose to strain – don’t worry too much about straining it perfectly, it will be fine!

9. After you have strained the soup, take the bowl with the soup drippings and put back in your main soup pot. If you want to stretch your soup a bit – put a small glass of water in your soup.

10. Next, grab your heavy cream and put as much as you life. Add a few tablespoons and taste. Some like it more creamy than others. I put approximately 175 mL in mine last night.

11. Heat the soup up to boiling and then put in serving bowls. Option – garnish with sour cream, bacon bits (real not fake!!!!) and green onion!

12. Enjoy with an Oktoberfest beer or Pumpkin Ale!