Maple Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
A delicious fall soup that's great as a soup + salad + panini combo.
Servings: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 2 lbs butternut squash about 1-2 squash
- 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaf
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup onion, thinly sliced
- 1 cup celery, thinly sliced
- 1 cup carrot, thinly sliced
- 4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2½ cups vegetable or chicken stock
- 3 tbsp pumpkin puree
- ⅔ cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
Optional toppings
- crème fraîche, chive, freshly grated nutmeg, pumpkin oil, olive oil, toasted pepitas
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°. Rinse the outside of the squash (it will sit in liquid while it cooks and you will use in the soup, so you want a clean squash). Cut squash ends off, then in half lengthwise, and remove seeds. Place halves in a roasting pan, cut side up. Add thyme sprigs, bay leaf, brown sugar and kosher salt to the top and cavity of the squash. It's ok if some falls off and into the pan. Add water to the bottom of the pan and cover tightly with a sheet of parchment paper, followed by a sheet of heavy aluminum. Place in the oven and cook for 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, in a large heavy pot, melt butter and olive oil over low heat. Add onion, celery, carrot, garlic, kosher salt and black pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, about 20-30 minutes total. You are looking for very soft vegetables and only the slightest hint of color. Turn off the heat while the squash finishes cooking.
- When the squash has cooked for an hour, remove from the oven and carefully take the parchment and foil off and let the squash cool a few minutes. Be sure to save the liquid in the pan; you should have a little less than 2 cups.
- Scoop out the flesh and add it directly to the pot with the vegetables. Add pumpkin puree, stock and flavorful cooking liquid from roasting pan to the pot with the vegetables and bring to a boil, then cover, lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Remove from heat and add heavy cream, maple syrup, and cinnamon. Carefully blend mixture with an immersion blender directly in the pot. For the most smooth texture, use a high speed blender such as a Vitamix, blending in batches and returning soup to the pot to reheat.
- Top each serving with any of the following toppings: a spoonful of crème fraîche, freshly grated nutmeg, finely chopped chive, a drizzle of pumpkin or olive oil, toasted/spiced pepitas, coarse flake salt
Notes
You can use 2 lbs of bagged, precut butternut squash to a pan and roast it on a rimmed sheet pan, uncovered with 2 tbsp olive oil and using the same roasting spices. Due to the lack of water used while roasting, increase the broth by 1-2 cups in step 4.