Butternut Squash & Apple Soup

How often do you make soup? I really should make soup more often. It's a great way to sneak in more vegetables into our diet. Usually when I have family and friends over for dinner, I'll have salad as a first course. But with the cold weather, soup seemed more appropriate. Now I feel like I've overlooked how great soup is as a starter, if not a meal in itself. The most recent soup I made was this Butternut Squash & Apple Soup. Who knew making this was as simple as combining butternut squash puree, apple slices, chicken broth and some aromatics, then giving it all a good whiz with an immersion blender?...

I need to make soup more often. Especially now when the weather warrants a steaming bowl of delicious warmth. This was a perfectly balanced soup with both the sweet and savory notes throughout. You could blend the soup as smooth as you'd like but I left some small bits of apple for additional texture. The original recipe called for blending the soup with the creme fraiche but I opted to dollop each serving with some so that folks could swirl it in as they ate. It also offered a nice color contrast and presentation to have the creme fraiche unblended. If you have difficult finding creme fraiche in your area, no worries - substitute it with some sour cream or even Greek yogurt.

Butternut Squash & Apple Soup
recipe adapted from Williams Sonoma

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 16 ounces butternut squash puree
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored & thinly sliced
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 small bay leaves
• 3 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 cup creme fraiche
• fresh chives for garnish

Cooking Directions

1. In a Dutch oven or stockpot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and cook until soft but not browned, 12 to 15 minutes.
2. Add the butternut squash puree, apple, broth, bay leaves and salt and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Partially cover the pot and simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup directly in the pot until smooth.
4. Ladle the soup into warmed bowls and garnish with a dollop of creme fraiche and fresh chives.