Butternut Squash Soup: A Recipe for Warmth

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It’s the heat of the summer that keeps us spinning wild and free, throwing off routine and clothing as if they had no other purpose than our utter confinement.  We slice watermelon and toss lemon on pasta, and then forget to do the dishes.  The sun covets our reckless company and will not herself sleep until every last ounce of play is run through green grass and wet with lake water.  The oven has turned storage cabinet, and just as you begin to wonder if you couldn’t get a good price for it on Craigslist, the sun sets.  At seven pm. And you know you are about to witness the days shrink, inching backwards as you stand crazy eyed, arms out and palms up, “Hey!  Where’re you going?”
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Cool creeps in like a level-headed old friend.  “It’s time you start taking yourself seriously again,” he says.  The sun still comes out, but distantly.  Tells us to get our warmth elsewhere.  We gladly oblige because, after all, it is time we start pulling our own weight around here.  Do the dishes, you know.  And frankly, I’m sort of worried that my children are starting to think of the park as their own private living room.
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So the quilts come out and we start seeking warmth from clothing again.  The sun has very little interest in warming our bodies now, but that’s ok because now we have an excuse to be close on the couch and together under a blanket.  We have hours of bright fires and warm ovens indoors, even as lights go early outside.  And we have soup.  Here’s one for you, a gorgeous ray of warm.
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[typography font=”Satisfy” size=”24″ size_format=”px” color=”#381b5e”]Butternut Squash and Sausage Soup[/typography]

ButternutSquashSoup

Ingredients:
1 large butternut squash, halved, seeds removed
1/2 lb Italian sausage (hot or sweet)
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups chicken broth
1 tsp lemon juice (or cider vinegar)
1/2 heavy cream
Fresh marjoram, sage, salt, pepper
Directions:
Heat oven to 400.  Brush squash halves with olive oil and place cut side down on baking pan. Bake about 45 minutes until very soft.  When cool enough to handle, scoop flesh out.

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In a large pot cook sausage.  Add onion and garlic and cook until caramelized. Add sage, marjoram, salt and pepper, chicken broth and squash purée.  Reduce heat and simmer about 30 min.

Use an immersion blender or put small batches in a food processer or blender.  If you like it smooth, strain through a fine mesh strainer.  Before serving, stir in lemon juice/vinegar.  Add cream and serve!
What is your favorite cold weather dish?

4 COMMENTS

  1. YUMMMMM! I usually cut up a rotisserie chicken and add that and then throw in a box of the curry couscous. You need to make the soup extra thin though as the couscous bulks it up a lot. Coconut milk doesn’t hurt either!! : )

  2. Giiirrrlll. We r on the same page. I made butternut squash soup this week. I put curry and coconut milk in mine. Serve it with toasted pumpkin seeds and a dollop of plain Greek yogurt. Love your recipe though!

    • Mmmmmm…. I love the curry idea, I want to use curry, I’ve never cooked with it because Kevin doesn’t like it. That sounds amazing.

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