I bought a butternut squash several weeks ago and still had not done anything with it. It kept on sitting on the shelf looking at me and I just couldn’t figure out what to do with it. Finally I got inspired to make some butternut squash muffins, actually wanted to do sweet curry butternut squash cupcakes but we all are getting over colds so felt like doing something more healthy. Soup it was.

First I roasted the butternut squash, which consisted of me cutting it in half, scooping out the seeds and putting it cut side down on a cookie sheet in the oven for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

In the mean time I chopped one medium onion and four cloves of garlic and set it aside for later.

Once the butternut squash is cooled, scrape all of the flesh out and put into food processor, blending it until it was smooth (I had about 4 cups total).

I used my Le Creuset 5 qt braiser, which is amazing and I use it for all sorts of cooking (gift from my parents earlier this year, thank you Mom and Dad!) you could use any non stick skillet.

I heated up couple tablespoons of oil and put in the onions letting them simmer for about 5 minutes on medium heat. I then added the garlic and let that heat through for about a minute (you do not want to burn garlic) finally  adding the pureed butternut squash.

At this point its all seasoning, I put in two to three teaspoons of sweet curry powder from Penzeys Spices, one teaspoon of salt plus a little bit more to taste, a quarter teaspoon of pepper and I peeled and minced about one inch of fresh ginger (you can leave out or do less depending on how much you like ginger). I use a microplane a ton in the kitchen, it is my go-to tool for mincing garlic, ginger and nutmeg.

You can add a bit of liquid if you want too thin it out, I added about half a cup of milk but you could do broth. I then took my immersion blender and smoothed out the soup and then it was done!

Sweet curry butternut squash soup, garnished with Nancy’s plain yogurt, parmesan cheese and dried parsley. Served with a grilled cheese sandwich! YUM!

Ingredients

• 1 3lb butternut squash, roasted & pureed
• 2 teaspoons oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2-3 teaspoons sweet curry powder
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 inch ginger, peeled and minced
• 1/2 -1 cup liquid, milk, veggie broth or chicken broth

Directions

Heat oil in saucepan on medium-high heat, add onions and simmer for 5 minutes

Add garlic and let heat through for about a minute then add pureed butternut squash

Add sweet curry powder, salt, pepper, and ginger, heat through

Add liquid to preferred consistency and then blend with immersion blender until smooth.