Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

My favourite time of year is officially here: Fall.

A time for apple-picking, thanksgiving harvests, warm soups, Sunday football with roasts in the oven, cool nights that are great for sleeping, and weather that is neither oppressively hot nor bitterly cold. It is most certainly my favourite time of year.

You should be prepared to be inundated with wonderful fall recipes, delicious comfort foods, and dishes that highlight all the great fall produce: pumpkin, squash, apples, pears, carrots, parsnips, beets…I can’t wait.

This is my favourite fall soup recipe. I usually find butternut squash soups to be bland and tasting entirely too much like…well…squash. This soup is complex with warm spices and a little heat. It smells and tastes just like fall.

If you want your soup to be completely creamy and devoid of any lumps, you should cool the soup slightly and puree it in a blender.  If you are lazy like me and don’t mind the occasional chewy chunk, an immersion blender does the trick nicely.

Spiced Butternut Squash Soup
Adapted from The Chef Upstairs

1 medium butternut squash, cut in half lengthwise, seeds removed
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 onions, thinly sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1 large apple, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp chili flakes
5 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup whipping cream (or heavy cream)
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat oven to 350F.  Place cut, seeded, butternut squash cut-side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Roast in oven until tender. Scrape the cooked squash from the skin and reserve.

Heat oil in a large pot on medium-high heat.  Add onions, carrots and apple and saute until softened, approximately 3 minutes.  Add allspice, cinnamon, thyme and chili flakes and saute for 30 seconds.  Stir in the stock and reserved squash, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.  Puree soup.

Add the cream and bring briefly back to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Note: The cream can be replaced with non-fat yogurt. However, if you are using the yogurt, don’t bring the soup back to a boil.