Winter Squash Soup

Monday morning, 7:02 am – I go out the back door with keys in hand, baby gear packed on my back, making a trip to load up the car before waking the baby to get ready to go, and look what greets me.


When we get snow before Halloween, me thinks we’re going to have a long winter ahead.

It has it's positive side, though. No more lawn chemicals wafting through the air. No more “geez, I should really weed the garden” guilt. People suddenly drive more carefully – and those that don’t get a big dose of reality with crushed-up fenders. And a warm kitchen with a big pot of soup is never more inviting than this time of year.

We plucked over a dozen butternuts out of the garden before the snow flew – and I roasted every single one and made a big pot of puree. Be warned: I’m a squash-aholic. Forget sugar plums – I have visions of squash baby food, squash cookies, squash dinner rolls, and of course, squash soup dancing in my head.


I just wanted a basic squash soup – no spicy Mexi-Asian fusion cha cha in my bowl this time around, thanks. I found a French recipe with hundreds of four-fork reviews on Epicurious and now I see why it was so highly rated. It’s perfect: mellow, savory, creamy, the fresh herbs shining through. I even left out the cream from the original recipe since I didn’t have any and it still tasted great. This is just what I want to cozy up to on a chilly snow day…well, there are others that I’d like to cozy up to on a day like today, namely my husband or Gerard Butler. But if I have to settle for a bowl of soup, may as well be a good one like this.

Winter Squash Soup
Butternut or acorn squash works here. To make squash puree, simply split squash in half, scoop out seeds, and place cut-side down on foil-lined baking sheet, roasting at 400 degrees for one hour. The original soup recipe calls for gruyere and a baguette to make croutons to accompany the soup, which would be lovely, but I just used what I had on hand, broiling some farmhouse cheese and extra chopped herbs on a few slices of wheat bread as a side.

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
3 14 1/2-ounce cans low-salt chicken broth
About 4 cups squash puree
1 and 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
1 and 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh sage

Melt butter in large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Add broth, all squash and herbs; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer about 10 minutes. Working in batches, puree soup in blender. Return soup to same pot. Season with salt and pepper.