Butternut squash soup

This is a fairly straight-forward soup recipe, but what really makes it are all the delectable toppings. The soup is fine without them, but better with. This got a good Ed-rating, for anyone who was wondering.

First, roast the squash. I peeled it afterward, you could peel it before, it doesn't really matter. I chopped my squash into chunks, tossed with olive oil, sprinkled on some sliced onions and chopped sage leaves, and roasted about 15min at 400F.


Then I put it in a pot, with some good chicken broth. I happened to have made the broth recently - chicken bones, carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves, rosemary, and garlic, all boiled down for a few hours. Home made broth is nice and all, but you could have used boullion and water. Add enough liquid that you've almost covered the chunks of squash, but there are still some chunks sticking up.

I added a rind of parmesan cheese at this point - we happened to have one hanging out in the freezer. I also peeled and chopped 1/4 of a granny smith apple, and put that in there, along with a couple chunks of fresh ginger. I recommend a bay leaf, too.

Simmer the soup for a while, maybe 20-30 more minutes. Remove the parmesan rind (unless it dissolved completely and you can't find it), and then blend the soup. I used a stick blender. Less stuff to wash. Pour in a tablespoon or so of cream, and stir that in. Serve in bowls. You could grate some more parmesan cheese on top, if you wanted.

All the stuff on top made it even more delicious. The glob of which stuff in the middle is greek yogurt - I'm not sure I'd do that again, it was a bit too tangy. But the caramelized onions, and oyster mushrooms fried up in butter until they're crunchy, and cream, those are all very necessary additions.