Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

I've been doing this blog for 7 months now and it is slowly evolving.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it in the beginning.  But now that I have more readers than before, I'm trying to get better at presenting the images for the recipes (and not shooting in bad lighting.... not my best) and editing my material more so I hope you like the change!  I'm totally a visual person and I like making things easier on the eye.  This takes more time to do so I don't know how much additional time I'm going to spend editing my material or if this means I will be posting less often.  We shall see! 

I have been cooking with a lot of squash lately.... pumpkin, delicata squash, spaghetti squash, etc.  I guess it is that time of year but I couldn't forget about my good ol' friend, the butternut squash.  This is probably the most popular of the squashes and for good reason.  It is sweet, has a slightly nutty taste, and is relatively easy to cook with.  If you ever want to know how to cut and peel a butternut squash, I already have a tutorial here in a past recipe.  This soup is light and comforting at the same time.  It's perfect for a side, lunch, or light dinner.

Adapted from AllRecipes

Makes 4 servings

 

2 cups raw butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes

1/2 cup yellow onion, diced

1/4 cup carrot, peeled and diced

1/4 cup celery, diced

1 cinnamon stick

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1 quart chicken stock or vegetable stock

2 tablespoons heavy cream

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Lay out the butternut squash evenly on a baking pan.  Drizzle with olive oil and lightly season with salt and pepper.  Roast for 15 minutes on 1 side.  Take the pan out of the oven, toss the squash and roast for an additional 10 minutes on the other side.

Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat.  Add onion, carrot, celery, and cinnamon stick to the pot.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook the veggies for about 5 to 6 minutes 'til they have softened (not browned).  Add the coriander and stock to the pot and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 7 to 8 minutes so the flavors meld.  Add the roasted butternut squash and simmer for another 10 minutes.  Remove the cinnamon stick.  With an immersion blender, blend the soup 'til it is smooth and creamy (you can also transfer the soup to a blender and puree it that way).  

Taste the soup and adjust for salt and pepper.  Stir in the heavy cream.

 

The coriander and cinnamon are great additions to this soup.  They create really subtle flavors and this soup would have been totally different without them.  If you haven't used coriander before, it smells similar to lemon and it smells very earthy.

I like roasting the butternut squash long enough so it caramelizes and creates the yummy sugars.  And whoever created the immersion blender is pretty genius.  I like using it because it is way easier than bringing out the blender and washing all the parts after you use it.  I bought mine at Costco.