Butternut Squash Soup – Perfect for Fall

What’s your favorite season? Mine is Fall.
I love when the leaves change colors, when the house has the aroma of cinnamon,
and when you can curl up on the sofa by the fireplace.
When it starts to get colder outside, I love to make my family soups.
This butternut squash soup is one of their favorites.
It is thick, creamy, velvety, slightly sweet and a little salty.
Tastes filling but it is still pretty light.

I kind of cheated and bought the squash already seeded and cubed, it makes life so much easier.
If you don’t want to do that or your store doesn’t already have that done for you, buy a butternut squash.
It is just these suckers are SO HARD TO CUT!
You need to poke them with a fork and microwave for a few minutes
so you can get a knife through it. Then peel it, seed it and cube it.

Anyway, this soup is really easy. You saute some onions in olive oil,
add the cubed squash and saute a few minutes.
Add some salt and a tiny bit of sugar for sweetness.
Then add chicken stock and simmer for 30 minutes until soft.
Once it is all cooked, use an immersion blender and blend until smooth and creamy.

Add a tiny bit of heavy cream or lite cream and you are almost done.

Now you need to taste it. With a clean spoon.
No double dipping please, that’s gross.

What does it taste like?
If it is bland and doesn’t taste like much, add some more salt.
I had to add a lot of salt to this batch, maybe the squash I used wasn’t very ripe.
And when I say a lot, I mean ~1 to 2 additional teaspoons of kosher salt.
I added it in little bits and stirred the soup and then tasted with a CLEAN spoon.
And it was DELICIOUS!!! A bowl of perfection. ♥

When I serve this, I put a sprinkling of Maldon Sea Salt on the top.
It is crunchy and salty and adds the perfect bite.
With a piece of crusty bread baked from scratch (I’ll put that recipe on another day).

Quick easy dinner (or lunch) is served.

INGREDIENTS:

3 pounds cubed butternut squash
2 medium sweet onions, cut up
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 to 2 teaspoons kosher salt, (or more if needed)
2 to 3 teaspoons of sugar
32 oz unsalted chicken or veggie stock (this is one box)
1/4 cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:

Prep all ingredients. Do not worry about the size or shape
of your cuts for the onions and squash.
It will all get blended up in the end.

Saute the onions in olive oil until they start to get translucent.
Keep going until almost starting to caramelize.

Add the squash and saute together a few minutes.

Add 2 teaspoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of kosher salt.

Add the stock and put a lid on your pot.
Simmer for 30 minutes until squash is tender with a fork.

After 30 minutes, take the pot off the heat.
Submerge your immersion blender and blend the soup.
Be super careful not to have it splatter or you will burn yourself.

Look at that beautiful orange-yellow color and the thick texture.

Now add the little bit of cream. You could use light cream here,
although there is not that much fat in this huge pot of soup.

Now taste it, like I talked about above. (NO DOUBLE DIPPING THAT SPOON PEOPLE!)
Does it need more salt? Add a little at a time, stir and taste (with a new spoon please)

When I serve this, I top it with Maldon Sea Salt.
Maldon Sea Salt Flakes (125g) – Pack of 2

That is why this picture looks like it has little bubbles on the top.
It is the flakes of salt starting to melt in the soup.

And a fresh hot crusty sour dough bread. (RECIPE on its way)

Dinner (or lunch) is served. Enjoy! ♥