[Recipe] Roasted Squash Soup

Roasted Squash Soup

It's a lazy Saturday and I had a craving for squash soup. I looked at a few promising recipes at AllRecipes.com and the following is my own version of that recipe that I adjusted to my taste and availability of ingredients (I purposely omitted the curry powder but I think some people would love that). It turned out quite nice and to be honest, I was a bit surprised about the addition of the apples. The original recipe called for tart green apples but since I could not get my hands on those for now I used whatever was available instead. Perfect for a cold rainy day.


Ingredients:
1 medium sized white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1/2 small 1 kilo squash
5 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg or adjust to taste
1 cup fresh cream
2 pieces small gala apples, peeled and cored then sliced
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon paprika 
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste 

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the squash in half and remove the mushy center with all the seeds. Make sure to remove all of the fibrous materials. Keep the other half for a later time in refrigerator. In a breadpan, coat the half squash with olive oil and place in the pan with the skin on top. Bake for about 35 minutes.

In a medium saucepan, caramelize onions in butter then add in the garlic and ginger. Note that to remove unwanted fiber from the ginger I prefer to grate the ginger this way all of the fibrous stuff doesn't get through. Season with the cayenne pepper, paprika, salt and pepper. Add in the sliced apples and mix thoroughly before adding in enough broth to cover the apples. Simmer until the apples are soft adding broth during cooking.

Scoop the baked squash into a pot. Add in the cooked apple mix into the pot along with what is left of the broth. In medium heat, let it simmer for a few minutes and then using a hand blender, blend everything until smooth. Add the fresh cream while blending and the nutmeg.

Serve with a swirl of fresh cream and dust lightly with nutmeg at the top. Serve hot. Serves around 5 people.