Butternut Squash Soup

This is the butternut squash soup recipe served at the We Grow Farm-to-Table Dinner Event in October 2016. It received very positive reviews and we were asked over and over again to post the recipe. It doesn’t take long to put this soup together, so it is great when you don’t have a plan for supper.

Butternut Squash Soup

• 6 cups raw cubed butternut squash, seeds removed ( 2.5 – 3 lb squash)*
• 6 tablespoons chopped onion
• 1 large clove garlic
• 1 tart apple, coursely chopped
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black or white pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 4 oz cream cheese (at room temp if time allows)
• salt to taste

In a large saucepan, saute onions/garlic in butter until tender. Add squash, apple, broth, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Bring to boil; cook 20 minutes, or until squash is tender.

Cube cream cheese. Puree the squash mixture and cream cheese with a stick blender or in a food processor in batches until smooth. It is ready to serve at this point. You may need to heat it through when time to serve, but do not allow to boil.

*Tender squash can have the skins left on in this recipe as they will be pureed with a blender. Also, roasting the squash in halves and scooping it out of the skins as needed is an alternative to cubing raw. If using roasted squash, there is no need to cook the mixture for 20 minutes. Simply bring it to a boil to meld the flavors before pureeing.

Make up to three days in advance. Freezes well for an easy winter meal!