Cold, rainy days and roasted butternut squash and sweet potato soup

By Dody Denman

It was the Saturday before the Saturday before Christmas!  The weather is cold and the rain is indeed making it frightful.  With the addition of all the crazy crowds out shopping, I had no intent of leaving the house.  These are the times that cooking can indeed get creative.

I was cleaning in the kitchen and realized I had a butternut squash and sweet potato that needed to be cooked or tossed.  My plan was to make a squash soup, but thought the sweet potato would be a nice addition.  I went to the internet to peruse recipes.  I found a couple, but they called for cinnamon, ginger or sugar.  Mike and I are not fans of “sweet” food, so I decided to improve on what I had read.

First, choosing to roast the vegetables increased the flavor. The addition of the Italian seasoning and a pinch of red pepper made a huge, tasty and savory difference.  I thought that a spoon of sour cream would be a great touch for that silky mouth feel.  I still think it would be great, but alas, I had none.  I did, however, have goat cheese.  A dollop of this cheese took the soup from “really great on a cold day” to “incredible and company worthy!”  I strongly suggest trying it this way.

My last inspirational thought was to add croutons.  I always make croutons with whatever bread is on hand and I happened to have some marble rye.  Oh Yeah!!! This will become part of my repertoire and will be made often.  Try it and let me know if you agree.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed and chopped into 1” cubes
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 1” cubes
1 large carrot, peeled and diced

1 onion, diced

1 stalk celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
Drizzle of olive oil

1/2 stick of butter

Tsp. Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper, or to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth (I prefer the flavor of chicken, but to make vegetarian use vegetable broth)

Optional:  serve with Tablespoon sour cream or goat cheese and homemade marble rye croutons (Of course you can use other croutons, but these were great!)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a large baking sheet add the chopped butternut squash and sweet potato. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss the veggies to make sure they are all coated with oil. Roast in the oven for 40-45 minutes stirring every 15 minutes. Remove the veggies from the oven and set aside.

2. In a large soup pot melt the butter. Add the onion, carrot and celery. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Cook until tender. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes longer.

3. Stir in the roasted veggies. Cook for five minutes.

4. Add the broth. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if needed. Stir.

5. Let the soup simmer for 20 minutes.

6. Puree the soup with a hand held blender. If you don’t have one, buy one…it is one of my most used appliances.  However, you can transfer soup to a blender and puree in batches.

7. Serve the soup hot with sour cream or goat cheese and croutons.

Make croutons by cutting marble rye bread in 1/2” squares.  Put in bowl and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Stir occasionally during baking.