It's Fall: Eat A Giant Butternut Squash
This is the easiest soup recipe ever. It doesn't taste like it, though: this butternut squash soup will leave you full and warm. It's a delicious fall recipe that happens to be ridiculously simple. There are all kinds of things you could do to this soup to fancify it (if you absolutely must, add chopped, peeled apples to the pot with the squash...), but honestly, it tastes best at its most pure -- this soup is about butternut squash, and butternut squash is tasty. Enjoy!
Butternut Squash Soup
One big butternut squash, peeled, deseeded, and cut into cubes (save and clean the seeds to use for a side-project snack)
One yellow onion, finely chopped
Olive oil
Chicken stock, vegetable stock, or water
Salt and pepper to taste
Sage (optional)
If you're feeling ambitious and want to use your soup cook time to make a crazy-awesome and super easy seed snack you'll also need:
Cinnamon
Cumin
Paprika
Red pepper flakes
In a large pot, cook the onion in little bit of olive oil on medium heat until it's soft and translucent.
Add the squash and about three cups of whatever liquid you chose -- chicken stock will give you the most richly flavored soup, but vegetable stock or water are fine too. If your squash is really huge, you can add more liquid to adjust the thickness as the soup cooks.
Turn up the heat to medium high and cook for about half an hour, stirring occasionally, until the squash is tender.
If you're cooking seeds, now's the time: in a small-ish pan, heat some olive oil, then add the seeds, then sprinkle with whatever combination of cinnamon, cumin, paprika, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper you desire. Don't overdo it. Or do. You can't really screw this up. Cook the seeds on medium, stirring frequently, until they turn golden brown. They might start to pop -- if they do, it's time to stop cooking, they're done.
Back to the soup: once the squash is soft, purée with an immersion blender (if you don't have one, pour the soup into a regular blender, and if you don't have one of those, mash them with a potato masher, then whisk, then strain). Depending on how thick or thin you want your soup, add some more stock or water.
Season with salt and pepper, and garnish with a little sage. Top with the seasoned seeds, if you like!
