Butternut Squash Soup

This recipe is an adaptation of a butternut squash soup recipe that my family loves to make, which I thought would be particularly popular given that it's about 10 degrees and snowing right now. I'm not exactly sure where it was originally from; I think my uncle Jamie got it from a cooking magazine a while back, but I just have a printout of it with no source. The original recipe uses chicken broth and milk, making it neither vegetarian nor vegan, but I frequently make it with vegetable broth and omit the milk, and it turns out great, so choose your ingredients based on your preferences.

Butternut Squash Soup

(Note: you can easily double or half this recipe. It freezes really well, so I would recommend making a large pot and freezing what you can't eat in the following few days.)

Ingredients

1 lb butternut squash (the recipe says you could use pumpkin instead, I've never tried this but go ahead if you want)

4-5 cloves of garlic

4-5 green onions (plus extra for garnish if you want)

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

2-3 Tbsp of flour

3 cups vegetable/chicken broth

1 cup of tomato sauce (the kind that is totally smooth and comes in a can, not the chunky one you put on pasta, or alternatively, one small can of tomato paste)

2 tsp- 1 Tbsp of chili powder (2 tsp. is usually enough, but this is very much based on your personal spice perference)

.5 tsp each cumin and oregano

1 cup milk

dash cayenne pepper (optional)

plain greek yogurt for garnish (optional)

Equipment Required

Stovetop burner

Chopping knife and cutting board

Vegetable peeler/paring knife (optional)

Measuring cups and spoons

Large pot

Wooden spoon/spatula for stirring

Blender/food processor/immersion blender (potentially optional)

Instructions

1. Peel and dice (cut into large chunks) the squash. If don't have a good knife to cut the squash, this will be very difficult and possibly dangerous, so I would recommend buying peeled pre-diced squash (which is also faster and easier if you're short on time).

2. Wash and dry the green onions, cut off the gross root part at the very bottom and any brown or shrively bits at the very top, then chop into relatively thin (maybe 1/4 inch wide) slices.

3. Peel the garlic, cutting off any brown hard bit on the bottom. Chop into very small pieces.

4. In a very large pot over medium-low heat, saute the garlic and green onions in enough olive oil so everything is coated and doesn't stick to the bottom (I would guess 1-2 Tbsp should be plenty).

5. When the green onions and garlic are mostly cooked (the green onions will have become more translucent and the garlic will not yet be browned), add the diced squash. Pour in the broth, tomato sauce, chile powder (if you're unsure about the spice level, add less than you think you will want and you can taste and add more later on when things are cooked), cumin, oregano, and flour. Stir so the spices and flour are not just floating on top and try to break up with the spoon any flour lumps that form.

6. Simmer (this means put on whatever heat level is necessary to keep it bubbling a little but not with the big bubbles of a boil) 20-30 minutes until the squash is tender (you should be able to easily put a fork through all pieces). Don't worry about over-cooking it since that won't hurt it, but do be sure the squash is totally cooked because hard squash will be really gross.

7. Turn off the burner when the squash is done and allow to cool slightly. Pour into a blender or food processor and puree (blend until smooth) or keep in the pot and blend with your immersion blender if you are so luck as to have one. (If using a blender or food processor you will likely have to blend in several batches unless you are only making a small pot of soup). If you are adding in the milk, you should add it now (just add to the blender with the broth and cooked squash). If you have no blender or like soup with chunks, you could leave it as a broth with squash cubes, in which case I would make sure to cut the squash into quite small pieces at the beginning. But I think the soup is a lot better pureed, so I would go that route unless you really can't.

8. Test your soup for spice-level. Add salt, cayenne pepper, and/or more chile powder if you want.

9. Serve garnished with a dollop of greek yogurt or sour cream (I love greek yogurt with this soup) and a sprinkle of chopped green onion if you would like, or allow to cool a bit more, then pour into individual containers and freeze (the individual containers make reheating for a future meal much easier than having to reheat a huge block of frozen soup to get one cup or trying to cut off a hunk from a soup ice cube).