Soup Weather

After a glorious week of snow, the rain has arrived. Rainy weather pretty much equals soup weather for me. The other day, there were beautiful butternut squashes at the market, and I could not resist! I love the colors when preparing the soup.

You will probably notice that my fallback cookbook is the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, and that is the inspiration for this recipe for a creamy butternut squash soup. The main difference is that I use vegetable broth rather than chicken broth. When I haven't made my own, I really like the vegetable broth or bouillon from the brand Rapunzel.

After cooking the soup, I remove it from the heat and puree it using an immersion blender. Then, I add the cream. You could leave out the cream if you would like a lighter soup.

We really enjoyed a bowl of this along with the Morning Glory muffins.

Butternut Squash Soup (vegetarian)

If you would like to make a vegan version, simply substitue vegetable oil for the butter, and leave out the cream at the end.

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large onion, minced
• 1 large butternut squash, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks
• 5 cups vegetable broth or bouillon (I generally use Rapunzel brand)
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• Pinch nutmeg
• 1/2 cup cream
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large Dutch oven; then add the onion and cook about 5 minutes. Add the squash, broth, thyme, and nutmeg. Simmer covered until the squash is tender, about 25 minutes.
2. Remove the thyme from the soup, remove the soup from the heat, and puree until smooth. (You can use a blender or a food processor for this step; I think that the immersion blender works fine and leaves a bit of texture.)
3. Add cream and return soup to the stove. Depending upon how big your butternut squash was, the soup might be a bit thick - if so, just add broth or water. You can season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with nutmeg, or a bit of cayenne to spice it up.