Recipe: Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

This recipe for Butternut Squash and Apple Soup, like most of my recipes, is the combination of several recipes…. taking the best ideas from each.

I started out with the Barefoot Contessa…. her recipe uses water to cook the squash… after reading reviews, and looking at the reviews and suggestions… I changed it to chicken broth…. she uses curry, I’m not a big fan of curry…. so I went hunting for more recipes…. many recipes spiced the soup with nutmeg and cinnamon…. I liked that idea… so that went on the list…. another used quite a bit of sugar, that wasn’t ideal… it made the soup too sweet…. and so it went…

I started the soup and experimented from there…. my first try… was pretty good… but too sweet…. so I changed the recipe to use tart apples and less sugar… the result is a slightly tart soup that combines the butternut squash and apple nicely. The cinnamon and nutmeg compliment the flavors.

I hope you try it!








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Recipe: Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

All you need:

2 medium onions, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into chucks
3 Granny Smith Apples, peeled and cut into chunks
1 carrot, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces
Chicken broth or Vegetable stock (enough to cover the onions and squash in the pot)
2 teaspoons salt
10 turns of the pepper mill
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups apple cider
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
4 tablespoons heavy cream (optional)

All you need to do:

In a large pot, over low heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter.

Add the onions and cook slowly until translucent (about 20 minutes).

In the meantime, peel the squash and cut the top portion of the squash off. This houses the seeds… remove the seeds.

Cut the squash into chunks.

TIP: My squash was quite difficult to cut because it was so hard. Cut the squash into 3 sections. Place on a baking sheet and put into a 250 degree oven for 5 minutes or so…. this will soften the squash slightly and make cutting easier.

Peel, core and cut the apples into chunks.

Add the squash, apples, carrot, salt and pepper to the pot with the softened onions.
Add enough chicken broth or vegetable stock to cover the chunks.

Increase the heat to medium high, and bring the pot to a boil. Then reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 40 minutes or until the squash and apples are very soft.

Let the soup cool a bit (but still quite hot) for better handling.

Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the squash, apples, carrot and onions and puree in a food processor. Do this in batches. After pureeing each batch, dump into a large bowl.

Take the liquid that’s left in the pot and reserve about 1 cup… (the rest can be dumped or saved for something else).

Return the pureed squash mixture to the pot.

Add the apple cider, cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg to the puree. Stir to incorporate.

Add the heavy cream and stir well. (this can be eliminated, however, I think it added a really nice creaminess to the soup).

Taste the soup and adjust seasonings to your taste.