Spicy Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Love, love, love me some butternut squash soup. Its such a versatile gourd you can't help but come up with a hundred iterations of the basic soup.

This time around I took a cue from Ina Garten and roasted the squash. I found that it concentrated the flavor nicely plus took on a nice roasted flavor as some of the flesh caramelized.

To continue with the smokey roasted theme I used chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. They brought on some nice heat as well as a hint of smoke that played nice nice with the butternut squash.

Finally, I have finally gotten it through my head to season at each step of the process as its so much easier to "get it right" when you do it that way rather than try to do an entire batch at the end. Funny how that works, but there is little left to do salt wise at the end if you do it as you go along and you don't have to worry about over salting either.

Spice Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

• approx 4 lb butternut squash
• 1 c chopped onion
• 1 c chopped carrot
• 1T chopped garlic
• 2 chipotle peppers packed in adobo
• 1 t adobo sauce
• 3 14 oz cans chicken broth
• salt
• pepper
• olive oil

Split the butternut squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds. Lightly drizzle with olive oil and add 1t salt to each half. Add 1/4 t fresh ground black pepper to each half. Place on baking sheet and bake in 325F oven for one hour and test for doneness. (It took 1hour 20 minutes to test done for me tonight). It will pierce with a fork with no resistance when done. Cool and scoop out flesh into a bowl.

Add 1T olive oil to sauce pot. Add carrots and onion. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium heat until onion is translucent. Stirring occasionally to cook evenly. Add chipotle peppers and adobo sauce. Add garlic and stir in cooking for 1 minute longer.

Put onion mixture in blender with 1 can broth. Run on puree until smooth and return to sauce pan. Add 1/2 of squash to blender with 1 can broth, puree and add to onion mixture in sauce pan. Repeat with remaining squash and can of broth. Over low heat bring to simmer.

Serve hot with a garnish of thinly sliced hot peppers and cilantro. (If you are one of those who can't deal with cilantro you can use flat leaf parsley).

Butternut and Red Pepper Soup

In continuance of my living in a healthier way goal for the New Year here is another version of my tried and true Butternut Squash soup. Just enough zing and extra sweetness to make this variation stand on its own as its own recipe. This is one that tastes as good if not a bit better on the second day.

After a whiz in the blender there isn't much left to do with this soup except bring to a simmer and let it cook away for another 10-15 minutes or so to let the flavors really blend together. Swapping out vegetable stock for the chicken broth would also turn this into a "vegan delight". You would never know from its creamy texture that it is in fact lacking cream which makes this a very heart healthy soup and great for any reduced calorie dieting. Adding in a salad and some garlic bread rounds out the soup to be a complete meal.

The secret if there is one is allowing the onions and red pepper to caramelize together so you get the full sweetness off of both to stand out in the soup without the raw onion or pepper bite. It takes a good 10-15 minutes over med-low heat to achieve the caramelization but it is worth it in the final product.

Butternut and Red Pepper Soup

• 1 medium butternut squash - large dice
• 1 yellow onion coarse diced
• 1 red bell pepper coarse diced
• Extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 t ground ginger
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
• 2 14oz cans chicken broth

In microwave safe dish with a lid add the butternut squash and micro cook 15 minutes or until the squash is soft. (I use a 1200 watt nuker so you will need to adjust time to match your machine).

Place onions and bell pepper in large stock pot with just enough evoo to coat the bottom of the pan. Add about 1/4 t salt and cook slowly, stirring often until caramelized about 10-15 minutes.

Add the onion and bell pepper with about 1/3 of the cooked squash with 1 can chicken broth and blend until pureed. Add to stock pot. Repeat with remaining squash and can of broth. Add ginger and cayenne pepper. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes to warm soup through and meld the flavors. Serve hot as an appetizer or with bread and salad for a full meal.

Butternut Squash Soup - slightly spiced

It rained this week and it was perfect soup weather. I love Butternut Squash soup and Jax in Glendale makes the best, but they won't give up the recipe no way, no how. I've been working on duplicating. This is pretty close, very tasty and very close.

The secret to making this soup is the long caramelization, 15-20 minutes over medium-low heat so the onion's develop their maximum sweetness while taking out the raw onion sharpness. Low and slow, stirring often and not allowing the onion to char is the secret to good caramelization. (Redundant I know, but I can't drill it into my head enough on this one).

Subtly Spiced Butternut Squash Soup.

• 1 large yellow onion.
• 1 butter nut squash
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t black pepper
• 2 T butter
• 1 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1 inch thick piece of ginger
• 1/4 T cayenne pepper
• 2 14 oz cans chicken broth
• 1/2 c half and half

Slice, clean out seeds and quarter the butternut squash. Place in microwave safe dish, cover with plastic wrap (cling film to you all in the UK who follow me). Microwave on high 12 minutes. Let cool to room temp covered, it will steam and soften while standing.

Slice onion into thick slices. Slice the ginger thinly. Heat butter and olive oil over medium low heat in large stock pot and add ginger and onion. Cook over slow flame 15-20 minutes until onion is caramelized and a very light golden brown.

With food processor or blender, add the onion and liquid from the squash pan. Pulse until liquefied. Pour back into the stock pot. Take 1/2 of squash and add to processor/blender along with about 1/2 can broth. Process until liquefied and add to stock pot. Repeat with remaining squash. Add enough remaining broth to get the mixture to soup consistency.

Return stock pot to a low flame. Heat until just starting to simmer, stirring occasionally. Once at simmer remove pot from flame and add the half-and-half and stir to mix it in. Do not add half-and-half while pot is on the flame as you might curdle your soup.