Butternut Squash Soup

Tis’ the season for butternut squash soup! Okay, so maybe this isn’t the healthiest recipe, but you could completely eliminate both the butter and the cream, and it would STILL be good. You could also sub nonfat half-and-half (Trader Joe’s definitely carries it!) for the cream and soy butter for regular butter. I’m a huge fan of Earth Balance natural “buttery spread.” I had no intention of using cream when I created this recipe, until I noticed an unused bottle of it in the fridge that was about to go to waste (oh no!), so I said fork it!

The whole recipe makes a decent-sized pot of soup. My hubby and I had enough for at least a couple of days, and it also freezes well. Like all of my recipes, this one is super easy, and inexpensive to make... especially if you have a well-stocked pantry (see blog post dated 11/1/10)! It doesn’t take more than 10-15 minutes to assemble, not counting simmering time. Here goes…

Ingredients:

1 can pureed organic butternut squash (you can also use fresh, but I’m lazy!)

1 can pureed organic pumpkin

1 shallot, finely diced (use the whole bulb – this is what gives the soup its flavor!)

½ stick unsalted butter

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 teaspoons kosher salt

3 teaspoons raw organic sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon curry powder

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 large whole sage leaves (fresh or frozen - see note at end of recipe!)

1 large box of organic chicken or vegetable broth (the kind with the pour spout)

¼ cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:

Turn stove on medium heat. Put ¼ stick unsalted butter in soup pot. When melted, add 1 can of pureed butternut squash and 1 can of pureed pumpkin. Stir. Add ½ box of chicken or veggie broth.

In a separate small pan, sauté the finely diced shallots in the remaining ¼ stick of butter until brown-ish. Once brown-ish, add to soup and stir. (Make sure to get all of the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. It’s the best part!)

Add the salt, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, curry powder, olive oil, and whole sage leaves. Stir well. You can use the amounts outlined above, or you can add them to taste. If you like a little bite, you can also add some fresh ground black pepper to the pot. Keep in mind that I never measure when cooking or follow any recipe to a tee. Everyone's taste buds are different, so when it comes to spices and certain ingredients, you can tailor any recipe to your liking. I digress...

Continue to stir the soup and add more broth as it thickens. (Expect to use a little more than ¾ of a box of broth in total.) Keep the remaining broth in the fridge for the next day. You will need a tiny bit to thin out the soup the following day if you have leftovers.

Once the soup has thickened and you are almost ready to serve it, add ¼ cup of heavy cream (or nonfat half-and-half). Stir well. Let simmer as long as you like!

Garnish with a fresh sage leaf and a drizzle of good olive oil, a garlic crouton, or fresh chopped green apple, dried berries or nuts. This soup is great as a stand-alone dish, or served with a slice of toasted rustic bread with melted Brie and sliced pear or apple. (And a drizzle of honey, of course!) I’m getting hungry thinking about it!

A note about the sage and other fresh herbs for that matter… You can FREEZE them! In fact, you can freeze pretty much any kind of fresh produce, and I do! You can buy frozen fruit and veggies in the freezer section of your grocery store, so why not freeze them yourself?

I never let anything go to waste. Brown bananas, for example, I slice and freeze for use in smoothies. Then I never have to worry about having bananas in the house. If I buy too big a bunch of fresh asparagus (and don’t want to eat it 3 nights in a row), I chop it up and freeze it for frittatas, scrambles, veggie couscous, and stir-fry. And herbs like sage, since I only use a couple leaves at a time, when I buy a bunch I wash it, dry it, and freeze the rest flat in a Ziploc freezer bag. Just sayin’…