Butternut Squash Soup

Yes, we are still on the soup kick around here :-)  My hubby loves butternut squash soup, and well, I've never really been a squash fan...at least not growing up.  Then I discovered this Spaghetti Squash Casserole that got me more open to eating squash.  So I figured, what the heck, let's find a squash soup recipe and see how it turns out.  Well...the verdict is below.

I found this recipe in My Father's Daughter - I've been enjoying a lot of the recipes in this book.  It's been a nice addition to my collection of cookbooks.

Butternut Squash Soup (Source: My Father's Daughter)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 yellow onions, peeled and roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon curry powder (or garam masala)
1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced
4 cups vegetable stock - warmed gently in a pot

Over medium heat and in a large pot, heat the olive oil and the butter until the butter is melted.

Add in the onions and garlic.  Saute for approximately 10 minutes, or until the onions start to soften.  Add the salt, pepper and curry powder, cook for another few minutes.  Add the squash and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add in the vegetable stock.  If the stock does not cover the vegetables in the pot, it is OK to add some boiling water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 20-25 minutes, or until the butternut squash is very soft.

Remove from heat and allow to sit and cool for at least 15 minutes.  I let mine cool for about 25 minutes (I was watching a show on TV...doesn't happen often so I took advantage of the moment!).  I also transferred my soup to a big serving bowl to cool and for processing.

Bring out your food processor and puree your soup in batches.  Do NOT overfill your food processor, and do NOT use hot foods in it...that will cause a big mess and potentially some injury! (I have not learned that lesson, but have heard the lesson and am passing it along!).

Put the processed soup back into your soup pot.  Repeat the process until all of the soup has been processed.  At this point you could re-heat and serve, or you can do like me.  I made my soup the night before and we ate it for dinner the next day - for a few reasons - first because it does take a while to prepare and if your family is like mine after school/work - they want to eat by 5:30 and I wouldn't have the soup ready in time - and two - I feel that the flavour gets a lot of extra time to set in if you refrigerate overnight and heat to serve the next day.  

VERDICT
I know, you've been waiting for this :-)  Well, let's just say that I haven't heard my husband get so excited about soup before.  Like ever.  The noises that he was making were entertaining.  I think he ate half of the pot for dinner.  And he was asking how soon I would make more.  He liked it that much.  I was a little worried when I was prepping the soup - it smelled a lot like pumpkin and I don't particularly like pumpkins unless they are the jack-o-lantern variety, and also I was a little concerned about the curry flavour - I wasn't sure if it would be too overpowering.  But it wasn't. It was good.  Thumbs up from everyone (except the toddler, but he had a fever and not much was making him happy at dinner).  This soup is one that I will make again.