Roasted Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

This soup is subtly sweet, a little spicy, and is so perfect for fall! Roasting the veggies first intensifies the flavors. I used some Ancho chili powder for a little heat and subtle smokiness, as well as some harissa. If you aren’t familiar with harissa, it is a North African chili paste that is full of flavor. I bought this one on Amazon but you can find it at some grocery stores and Trader Joe’s also sells their own version. Be careful with how much you use…I went with 2 tablespoons and it had a decent amount of kick to it. It goes really well with the flavors in this soup! A little ginger and orange zest amp up the flavor even more.

You can buy peeled and cubed butternut squash just about anywhere these days. That’s what I always use when I want to save some time. For this I used four 12 ounce bags of Trader Joe’s squash.

I like to line my baking sheets with foil or parchment paper for easy clean up. I also made a little foil pouch for the garlic so it wouldn’t brown too much while the other veggies roasted.

When you are adding salt to a soup, you need to taste as you go. You will use a lot of salt to season the vegetables while they roast, and you will also get some salt from your chicken stock, but you will need to add more towards the end. Salt is pretty important to get the flavor just right. It really enhances all the other flavors. If you feel like something is missing, it is likely just a little salt. If you want to add some protein to this soup, sub chicken bone broth for the chicken stock.

Roasted Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

Makes 8 entree servings or 10-12 as a side

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs of peeled and cubed butternut squash (approximately 2 butternut squash)

• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces

• 2 large carrots cut into 1 inch pieces

• 1 large sweet onion cut into 1 inch pieces

• 4-6 whole garlic cloves

• olive oil

• kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

• 1/4 cup maple syrup (divided)

• 1 tsp of ancho powder (sub chipotle chili powder if you prefer)

• 1 tsp coriander

• 1 – 3 tbsp of Harissa

• 1 tbsp fresh ginger grated on a microplane

• 2 quarts chicken stock (or chicken bone broth for extra protein)

• zest of one orange

• 1 cup heavy cream

Optional Garnishes:

• cooked bacon

• creme fraiche or sour cream

• chopped fresh mint and chives

• roasted pumpkin seeds or spicy pumpkin seeds
  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425

1. Line 2 baking sheets with heavy duty foil or parchment paper. Mix 2 tbsp of the maple syrup with 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a large bowl. Put the squash in and toss to coat it all evenly, then put it in a single layer on one of the baking sheets. Sprinkle the squash with plenty of salt and pepper and the ancho chili powder (scale back on this if you want your soup more mild).

2. Add 2 more tbsp of olive oil to the same bowl (no maple syrup this time) and toss the bell peppers, carrots, and onions until they are coated in oil. Arrange the veggies in a single layer on the second baking sheet and season generously with salt and pepper.

3. Put the garlic cloves in a small piece of foil and drizzle them with a little olive oil and close the foil up, then add them to the baking sheet with the veggies.

4. Roast all of the veggies in your pre-heated oven for 30 – 45 minutes or until the squash is very tender and there is some caramelization on the onions and peppers. The garlic should be very soft as well.

5. Once the veggies are done, heat 1 tbsp olive oil (or bacon fat if you have it from cooking the bacon you are using to garnish) in a large dutch oven over low to medium heat. Add the harissa to taste (1 tbsp is mild to medium, 2 is medium spicy, 3 is spicy), the grated ginger, the coriander, and the remaining 2 tbsp of maple syrup, and cook for a few minutes, moving the ingredients around in the pan so the harissa can caramelize a bit.

6. Add all of the roasted veggies and garlic and 6 cups of the chicken stock (reserve 2 cups of stock to thin the soup out if needed). Bring to a simmer, then cover the pot and cook for about 20 minutes, checking/stirring every so often. Taste your soup to see if it is well seasoned… you will probably need to add more salt at this point. You will get some salt from the seasoned roasted veggies, and some from the stock, so taste as you go to see how much more you need. I added about 2 more teaspoons of salt.

7. The next step is to puree the soup. You can do this with an immersion blender or let it cool a bit and do it in batches in a countertop blender. I think the countertop blender gives you a smoother texture, but using an immersion blender is the easiest method if you have one. If you do use a countertop blender, you will need to do it in 2 – 3 batches depending on the size of your blender. Make sure your soup is not piping hot when you blend it. Add more stock at this point if it is too thick. I ended up using all 8 cups.

8. Return the blended soup to the pot and add the orange zest and heavy cream. Check again for seasoning…more salt and pepper may be needed. Heat over low heat until it is hot. Garnish with the cooked bacon, chopped mint and chives, and pumpkin seeds.