Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

I wrote the following post as a guest on Alicia's blog Culinary Bliss.   She is busily loving on her new bundle of joy Eleanor so blogging isn't exactly at the top of her list of "to-dos" right now.  When she posted a request to a cooking message board that we both frequent looking for folks to help out, I figured why not.  This is the post that I decided to share with all of her readers.

Congratulations Alicia!

PS: Would you like to guest post on my blog?  Even if you don't *have* a blog but maybe want to have a creative outlet, please post a comment and let me know.  You can be featured on my blog!

Why oh why was I ever intimidated by butternut squash?  The skin of this squash was much softer than I expected and the shape, once you prepare the ends of the squash, didn't make it difficult to cut either.  I was extremely excited to see this butternut squash show up in my weekly CSA share last week because I knew that meant that I'd have no choice but to face my fear and make something with it.  Even better was it allowed me the opportunity to check another item off my 23 Things in 2011 list.  Double win!

To get the most delicious combination of flavors I decided that I wanted to combine aspects of two different recipes.  I knew that roasting the squash first would bring out its delicious natural flavors better than boiling would.  I also thought that adding apple could bring a new dimension of flavor (and nutrition) to the soup.  Cayenne pepper would bring an unexpected small kick of heat.  And finally, real butter is infinitely better than margarine and a touch of low fat cream cheese would literally smooth out the flavor and texture.  The result?  PERFECTION.  I simply could not get enough of this soup!

I love the flavor and texture of butternut squash and am so excited that I am no longer intimidated by the preparation of it because now the possibilities are endless.  Do you have other recipes to share featuring this lovely squash?  If so I'd love to try them!

Two Years Ago: Chili - This recipe is adapted from my mother-in-law and currently entered in a chili contest at Nicole's blog, Prevention RD.  Check out what she had to say about it here!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 green apple, peeled, cored, and diced
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1 medium (2 pounds) butternut squash
• 3 cups reduced sodium chicken broth (substitute vegetable broth to make it vegetarian)
• 1/2 tsp dried marjoram
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 oz low-fat cream cheese
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.  Cut both ends off the squash then cut it in half and scoop out the seeds.  Place squash on a large baking sheet flesh side up and roast in oven for 45 minutes to an hour or until soft.  Peel and chop the squash.  Set aside.
2. While the squash is roasting, in a large sauce pan, boil onions and apples in broth with marjoram and cayenne pepper.  Simmer for 20 minutes or until soft.
3. Add chopped squash and low fat cream cheese to the sauce pan and puree all ingredients using an immersion blender.  If you do not have an immersion blender, transfer the contents of the sauce pan and squash into a blender and puree until smooth then return to sauce pan to heat through.  Do not allow to boil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  If desired, add more water or chicken broth to thin the soup until it reaches your preferred consistency.  Serve hot.

Source: Adapted using a combination of Use Real Butter and All Recipes.