Butternut Squash Soup

Top: Butternut Squash Soup with Roasted Red Peppers; Middle: thicker soup; peeled and chopped squash

This is the perfect soup for a cold day or for when you want something to eat and can’t decide what you want. It is rich and filling even without the usual ingredients of milk, cheese or cream. I especially like this on days when a big dinner is coming, but I need to eat something beforehand.

The more you make this soup, the more you will find that you can vary the ingredients and their quantities.

Ingredients:

1 peeled and cubed butternut squash
I large yellow onion (or any other onion you prefer)
1 red bell pepper
4 cups of vegetable, turkey or game broth
Black pepper to taste
1red bell pepper

Options:

*garlic to taste
salt to taste

If you have access to a newly-harvested butternut squash, the skin should be tender and you won’t have to peel it. If you make this soup in winter, then the squash you find may have tougher skin and it needs to be peeled. Tip: Invest in a good potato peeler—it will make your cooking life much easier; but, be very careful with your peeler since it is easy to slice off some of your hand. As an option, you can roast the squash after cutting it in half length-wise and then scoop out the meat

Peel and cut the squash into medium to small squares (and don’t forget to take out the core of seeds; it’s similar to a pumpkin)

Chop the onion (rough cut is okay)

Put ingredients into skillet or sauce pan and cook until squash is tender.

Place all hot ingredients into food processor or blender, mix with water or broth and blend it to the desired consistency.

In the meantime, put the sliced red pepper into the pan to sautee and cook until tender.

Pour blender contents into a bowl, then top with the pepper and it's ready to eat.

*Old World ingredient