Curried Butternut Squash Soup
As I have mentioned before, the Silver Palate cookbook is usually way too high maintenance for me to bother with their recipes. However, every once in a while you stumble upon a recipe of theirs that is delightful and delicious and not too much work. Their recipe for curried butternut squash soup is not the easiest, but it’s certainly not the hardest. And the soup is so yummy that it’s really worth the work. So yummy in fact that it all got eaten before I had a chance to take a picture. Oh well, on with the recipe!
- 2 or 3 tablespoons of butter
- 1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped
- 5 teaspoons of curry powder
- about 3 pounds of butternut squash, peeled and chopped (this will usually be 2 smaller or 1 large squash)
- 2 granny smith apples, peeled and chopped
- 3-4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 cup apple juice (or less)
Melt the butter in a large dutch oven over low heat. Add the onions and the curry powder and cook over low heat, covered for about 25 minutes. (This may seem like a long time to soften onions, but cooking them slowly in the butter makes such a nice difference. It really helps the soup become richer on its own.) Check on them occasionally and stir once or twice to make sure the curry powder is not sticking to the bottom of the pan. Once the onions are soft, add the squash, apples and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a steady simmer, cover partially, and let it do its thing for about 25 minutes. You should get to a point where the squash is tender but not mush.
Turn off the heat and let the soup cool for about 10 minutes. Pour a portion of the soup (solids and liquids) into a blender, filling about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way full. Puree the soup to your desired consistency. It should look somewhat like baby food, but slightly thinner. Move into a different pot or bowl and repeat until all the soup is pureed. Pour everything back into the original pot and add the apple juice. (The recipe calls for 1 cup, but I usually use less than this. I think unsweetened apple juice would work the best.) Heat over med-low heat and stir until heated through. You are now ready to eat! A garnish of yogurt or sour cream is a nice touch as well. Enjoy!
