I know butternut squash is usually associated with the fall, but I made a fantastic soup with the tasty gourd tonight. The Duke loves this stuff, and I’ve always said I’ll make it, but until tonight I’d never made good on my promise. I was flipping through one of my Real Simple magazines and came across what looked like an incredibly easy recipe.
There were perfectly good butternut squash in my grocery store this weekend, so who says I can’t make a fall recipe when it’s soon-to-be spring?? I bit the bullet and did it!
I adapted the recipe slightly, and it turned out great. I sauteed one chopped onion and about a half a cup of chopped fennel in two tablespoons of butter. I then added 3 lbs of chopped butternut squash, 5 cups of chicken broth, one bay leaf, and salt and pepper and brought the whole party to a boil. It then simmered for about 12-15 minutes until the squash was softened. All that’s left to do is puree the soup in batches in a blender. That’s it! I’m so glad I finally got around to making this soup.
I personally feel that butternut squash and rosemary were made for each other. As such, I chopped a boat load of fresh rosemary and stirred it into some ricotta with salt and pepper. I plopped a healthy spoonful, along with some of my dad’s home made croutons, onto each bowl of soup. WOWZA! This bowl of soup tasted really rich, but (besides my 2 tbsp. of butter) it was rather healthy. 
I made an easy salad of romaine, cucumbers, almonds and craisins to serve alongside the golden delicious soup. And a huge chunk of crusty wheat french bread.
This meal was the perfect ending to a nice weekend. The Duke and I are watching the closing ceremonies of the Olympics, so I guess I’ll retire for the evening. I’m still bummed about the hockey team losing to Canada, but the American guys played a great game! All of our athletes really worked hard and made the USA proud.
The Duchess
