Curried Squash & Apple Soup

With all of these gorgeous squashes in season, I knew that I had to take advantage of making them into a soup. Nothing beats a bowl of warm & hearty soup with homemade rolls on chilly weekends. I looked around for a recipe that fits the bill, and I couldn’t quiet find one that seemed  to have everything that I wanted. I prefer soups that are more savory than sweet, so I decided to use regular vegetable broth instead of apple cider like some recipes suggested. If you want a sweeter soup though, feel free to substitute them in place of broth. I also like pretty heavy seasoning on mine and just a tad bit of creaminess from the heavy cream. I also liked to have a little bit of chunks of apples in the soup, so if you want your soup to be completely creamy without any chunks, feel free to put them into the blender after sauteeing them. Playing around with the amounts of different seasonings, I arrived at this one listed below. I enjoyed mine with homemade olive rolls (I will post the recipe next week!) and they were heavenly together. Try this and let me know if you agree. Happy eating!

Ingredients
3 lbs of squash (I used one butternut, and one deliccata), halved
1 medium McIntosh apple, diced
1 medium apple, peeled and diced
2 cups of vegetable broth
1 tbsp of chopped garlic
2 tbsp of heavy cream
1 tsp of curry powder
1/2 tsp of ginger
1/4 tsp of paprika
1/8 tsp of red pepper
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degree. Scoop out and discard seeds from squash. Place cut side down in a 13×9 inch baking dish, add water. Bake uncovered for approximately 45 minutes, until squashes are tender.

Carefully scoop out squash into a blender or food processor, cover and process until smooth. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, saute the onion, apple, and garlic. Stir in curry powder and ginger, continue to cook for another minute. Stir in broth and pureed squash. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to low. Add cream, salt, pepper, red pepper, and paprika, heat through.

Yield: 6 generous servings