Finally Some Soup Weather

It is finally cold outside which to me means SOUP WEATHER! Russ keeps trying to hold me off from declaring soup weather since the temperatures have mostly been in the 70s lately. However at least for the next couple days it is cooler and we’ll be celebrating the lower temperatures with soup. As I mentioned in a previous post Jess and Scott gave Russ and I a bounty of veggies from the farmer’s market and I am having a fun time figuring out how I am going to use them. The bounty includes five smaller sized butternut squash. I have been torn between two new recipes for them and I decided this morning that I just can’t pick between the two, so I’ll make both over the next few days. Tonight I’ll make Ina Garten’s Butternut Squash and Apple Soup, but I’ll cut the recipe in half and save the rest of my butternut squash for the other recipe (which you’ll have to wait to see what it is).

Russ and I have a favorite butternut squash soup recipe that we love and I have no doubt it will show up on this blog sooner or later, however, we still have apples from the orchard I thought this was the perfect time to try Ina’s recipe for a change. To make the soup you first sauté chopped onion and curry powder in a little butter. While this is sautéing you peel and cut the squash and apples. These then go in the pot with water (only I decided to use chicken broth to give it a little more flavor). Bring this to a boil and then throw the lid on and bring it down to a simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes. When the apples and squash are soft then you puree the soup. You can use a blender, but I use the hand blender so then I don’t have to transfer the soup out the pot. Once it is pureed you add the apple juice and salt and pepper to taste. Then it is ready to serve.

I decided to serve the soup with a salad and a baguette. Wait… where’s the meat? Tonight's meal almost came out of our kitchen with no meat in it, but just for Russ there was some turkey on the salad. Russ is convinced he cannot get full from a meal that doesn’t include meat in it, so the turkey helped solve that problem. The soup was really tasty with rich thick texture and a sweet / savory flavor. The sweetness from the apples and apple juice complemented the butternut squash really well. I think the key ingredient may have been the curry powder that added a subtle extra layer of flavor that was delicious. I also liked that the soup had a very clean flavor since it is predominately made up of pureed vegetables and fruit. Russ and I enjoyed the soup, but we still think our tried and true butternut squash soup is even better. Russ rates the soup a 8.