Roasted butternut squash soup

Fall has finally arrived! Leaves are turning red, evenings are just a tiny bit chilly, Starbucks is serving its pumpkin latte and what all that means for me is one things.. time to make lots and lots of soups again!

I bought a butternut squash on sale at Trade Joe's. I was thinking of making the curried butternut squash soup I had made earlier but feeling a bit adventurous with extra extra pumpkin caffeine, this time I decided to try a long lost Cooking Light recipe that I vaguely remembered reading a few years back at a dentist's office (have you noticed how you never forget a recipe that you read at dentists's office, guess its the pain of whats coming ahead or something...)

The recipe is very simple. Original one called for chopping the squash into cubes and then cooking with stock and then slightly spicing it up with nutmeg. When it comes to butternut squash I always prefer roasting rather than chopping (the squash is way too tough to cut using any of the knives I have in my repertoire! Once its roasted though then its really easy to scoop up the cooked squash out.

This turned out to be a simple and yet extremely flavorful soup. Its best served on a cold night as an appetizer with some garlic bread (regular whole wheat or sourdough bread toasted with a bit of olive oil and then rubbed with some fresh garlic for a light garlicky flavor)

Recipe: Roasted butternut squash soup
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
6C water
1 large onion
1/2in piece of ginger
1/4tsp red chili powder (or less depending on the heat)
1/8tsp nutmeg
3 cardamom pods
s & p

Recipe:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375F
2. Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise (be very careful during cutting; butternut squash can be tough so be very careful that the knife doesn't slip during cutting)
3. Remove the seeds. Rub olive oil, salt & pepper on the squash halves and roast for 45mins.
4. Remove from the oven after 45mins and let cool.
5. Heat 1Tbsp olive oil in a large soup pot.
6. Add chopped onion and minced ginger and saute for a few minutes until onions start to tender.
7. Peel the butternut squash and roughly chop into small chunks.
8. Add the squash chunks and 6C water to the soup pot and bring the mixture to a boil. When it starts to boil reduce heat to simmer and simmer for 10-15mins uncovered.
9. Turn the heat off. When the soup cools down slightly, run it through a blender in two batches.
10. Add the blended soup back to the pot. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, chili powder, cardamom and mix.
11. Taste and adjust the seasonings per taste.
12. Serve with a crusty whole grain bread toasted and rubbed with garlic.