Butternut Squash Soup

My wife says this is the best squash soup she has ever had, and she gets it at lots of restaurants.

Butternut Squash Soup

1 Butternut Squash
1 Large Parsnip (white carrot very very high in potassium)
2 Green Apples
1 Large Sweet Onion
1 Leek (optional… leeks are the giant chive looking things – make it two onions if you leave it out)
2 Quarts Chicken Stock
4 normal, 3 huge, or 5 small yukon gold potatoes
1 large carrot, or however many small ones for the same amount
A couple cloves of garlic, minced
salt
bay leaf
saffron if you have it or want to use
ground nutmeg, freshly shaved is so much better if you find it.
ground cinnamon
chopped chives (optional)

Preheat the over to 425.

Peel the squash, then cut it into chunks, and scrape out the seed cavity (as if you were carving a pumpkin) the chunks should be of moderate size, say, 2 inches.

Clean and chop the potatoes, peeling is optional Medium chunks, 1 inch

Peel and chop the parsnip. medium chunks, 1 inch. Ditto with carrot.

Stick peeled & chopped veggies in a 13×9 baking dish, drisle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and toss around for even coating. Stick it in the oven for 30 minutes.

Peel the onion and stick it in a frying pan to carmelize (low-medium heat, salted, a little bit of oil, stirring constantly, until soft). Cut the top and bottom off the leek (you eat the middle part, the white part, with a little green towards the top), cut it in half lengthwise. Rinse it out to remove any dirt, and then chop it up. Stick it in with the onion.

Peel, core, and cut up the apples into 6 slices each. When the oven beeps open it up, toss in the apple, and stir all the veggies. Set the timer for another 30 minutes.

When the oven beeps a second time, put all the veggies into your crockpot (the onion & leek, and everything from the oven) pour over enough chicken stock to cover, add a bay leaf or two, and the saffron if you’re using it, and the garlic. Cook for a few hours, or all day.

30 minutes or so before you want to eat, preheat the oven to 350.

Slice up a nice whole grain baguette, put some cheese (Swiss, gruyere (aged swiss), provolone, parmigiana, mozerella) on top of each slice, stick it in the over until it is toasted.

Meanwhile, get out your immersion stick blender (a must for any serious soup maker), open up the crock pot, remove the bay leaves, and blend it up until smooth. Add a few teaspoons of fresh ground nutmeg (I usually shave off half a nut with my microplane grater), and a tablespoon of cinnamon, blend some more, taste, add more seasoning if desired.

Kill the heat (make sure to check your bread so you don’t burn it), and add 1 cup of milk (you could also use half and half, or cream, but I think milk is just fine). Blend again to mix the milk in well.

Ladle into bowls, garnish with chopped chives and or black pepper if desired, and serve with toasted cheese bread.

Low calories, very very very nutritious, and you get to use two or three veggies you don’t often use (and so may miss the vitamins etc they provide).

Picture coming, next time I make the soup, which should be soon since I just harvested a bunch of squash.