Butternut Squash Soup

Over the past few years, Thanksgiving has been held at our house. My in-laws drove down from Michigan and, since my husband worked during the day, I spent all day in the kitchen preparing every dish from scratch. My husband returned home late from work and upon his arrival, my father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, husband and I would all gather around our table, say our thanks and dig into dish after delicious dish.



Last Thanksgiving was no exception. However, this time, my in-laws brought with them butternut squash from the farm. My mother-in-law plopped this huge vegetable on the counter and there it sat...staring at me during the days leading up to Thanksgiving. I had never worked with this vegetable in the past and I had absolutely no idea what to do with it. I eventually came up with the idea of roasting it and than caramelizing it with a little cinnamon and sugar. Now that I had the recipe out of the way, it was time to cut into this huge beast of a vegetable. That's when I hit a brick wall. The vegetable was so dense and thick I thought it was going to take an army to pry this bad boy open.



I quickly recruited my husband and bother-in-law into the kitchen for assistance (and out of fear that I was going to do some major harm with the knife). After a while, we finally halved it and I began preparing the side dish. To my surprise, it turned out great and I immediately decided that I had a love-hate relationship with butternut squash.



Now that fall is in full force, this vegetable has returned to me in the form of a delicious, comforting and wonderful soup. A soup that, until preparing it most recently, I have never had the opportunity to enjoy. A friend of mine fell in love with this soup after first bite and shared the recipe with me. I was intrigued to say the least and I knew that I had to give this recipe a try...and boy oh boy am I happy that I did.



This soup is filled with so many flavors of the fall season...



Butternut Squash Soup



Ingredients:

1 2-lb butternut squash, halved
1 12-16 ounce sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
2 medium carrots, peeled and roughly diced
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, diced
2 ribs celery, peeled and sliced crosswise
2 sprigs thyme
5 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup half and half (optional)
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place squash cut-side down, potatoes and carrots on baking sheet. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until tender. Remove from the oven and let squash cool enough to handle.
Use a spoon to scoop out and discard squash seeds. Scrape the meaty away from the skin. Place the squash meat, potatoes and carrots in a bowl and reserve.
Melt butter over low heat in a large saucepan. Add onion, celery and thyme and stir occasionally until soft and lightly browned (approximately 10 minutes).
Discard the thyme.
Stir in the broth and roasted vegetables and simmer for approximately 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.
Puree soup in food processor or blender until smooth and return to saucepan (you may need to puree in batches).
Add the half and half to the pureed soup.
Season to taste with salt and pepper and re-heat if necessary before serving.
*These are traditional instructions; however, if you want to speed the process up a bit, you can always microwave the squash, potato and carrots to soften.

**Recipe provided from a friend (originally from the CBS Chef on a Shoestring segment in 1999 -- Chef Chuck Adams)