Butternut Squash Soup

Squash?!


A strange fruit!

Indeed a fruit - I just recently learned that it is NOT a vegetable. I also must admit that I never knew what to do with squash. Squash is not exactly a staple where I grew up (In fact I don’t remember ever eating squash as a child). I tried to make a squash casserole before and it was horrible. Luckily, after eating Butternut Squash Soup at one of my local Slow Food Tucson events I changed my mind (and yes…you probably will hear the Slow Food Movement mentioned quite often in my blogs, it is after all the topic of my dissertation and besides cooking new recipes, thinking and writing about this movement takes up the majority of my time).

Once you get passed the peeling, getting rid of the seeds, and cutting the squash into small pieces, this soup is very easy to prepare. Moreover, it is healthy and taste absolutely awesome. Cook 3 slices of bacon until crisp in a large pot. Take the bacon out and save it for garnish. Add 1/2 chopped onion, 1 chopped (large) leek, and 1 minced garlic clove to the bacon grease. Also add 1 bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. When this mixture softens add the cut up squash, 1 chopped (peeled!) Granny Smith apple, and 2 ½ cups chicken stock. Simmer this for about 25 minutes.

When the squash is tender, take out the bay leaf and puree the mixture in a blender (if it is too thick add some water). Then return it to the pot and heat it again. When serving just crumble up the bacon and add on top. Absolutely delicious! Moreover, it freezes very well and tastes great re-heated.

Guten Appetit!