My fabulous sister gave me 3 huge butternut squash the other day. I whipped this up today and it was fantastic! It was a little too rich for Hubby to have as a main course, but we decided it would be a great pre-entree soup. I made a tiny amount of roux (like 1 T) to thicken it (because my internet research said a lot of similar recipes were thin), but it didn’t need it. It was creamy and smooth. I love it when experiments turn out!
4 lbs butternut squash, roasted
1 T butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 med onion, diced
5 c chicken broth
bay leaf
1/2 c dry powdered milk (non-instant. or use 1 cup instant)
dash cinnamon
dash nutmeg
salt & pepper to taste
Cut stem off and cut squash in half lengthwise (and try not to get mad at it when it’s not perfectly down the middle. Or even close). Place flesh-side down on a cookie sheet and bake at 425 for 35-45 minutes. Time will depend on the size of your squash. Mine was a huge 4 pounder instead of 2 smaller ones, so it took a little longer to roast.
While it’s roasting, saute garlic and onion in the butter. Add chicken broth and bay leaf and bring to a simmer. When squash is roasted, scoop out the flesh and add to the broth mixture. Add powdered milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt & pepper. Remove bay leaf and process until smooth with an immersion blender (or forget you put a bay leaf in until you see little bits of it float to the top. Not that I did that…). Taste to correct seasonings and serve.
Makes about 8 cups.
*If you don’t have an immersion blender, do it in batches in a blender.
*I asked Hubby what he thought would make this soup better (he must get so annoyed, I always ask him that when I make a new recipe). He said potatoes. Which I think would actually be really good.
