i heart ... rustic soup of butternut squash with roasted garlic

i don't like squash.but i want to like squash.

i love autumn so so so so much

so that means i want to love everything about autumn

and that means i need to love squash.

i do love everything pumpkin,

and pumpkin is a squash, right?

so maybe i'm on the right track

toward my goal of learning to like squash...

and now i've found something else that is helping me toward that goal.

i made this soup on sunday

just hoping so much that i would like it

because it did sound so good...

all of it, except the squash part.

and i'm happy to report,

i loved it!

rustic soup of butternut squash

with roasted garlic

from american western cooking from the roaring fork

1 1/2 cups peeled butternut squash, cut in half

1 tablespoon dark chile powder

kosher salt & cracked black pepper

2 tablespoons softened butter

water (to spin squash in blender)

2 tablespoons corn oil

1/2 cup diced yellow onion

1 tablespoon finely minced shallot

2 tablespoons toasted, seeded & finely minced chile ancho

2 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup roasted garlic puree (you can google this to find out how to do it. so easy!)

1 tablespoon roasted & ground cumin seed

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds

4 cilantro sprigs

preheat oven to 375 degrees. season squash with chile powder and salt & pepper. to roast the squash, lightly grease a roasting pan with softened butter and place squash (w/seeds) seeded side down on pan. roast for 35 minutes. remove from oven and allow to cool to room

emperature. puree in blender with just enough water to spin sauce. season with salt & pepper.

in a heavy pot, heat corn oil over medium high heat. then saute diced onion, shallot and chile ancho till just tender. add squash puree, broth, roasted garlic puree, ground cumin and cayenne. allow soup to simmer till it has reduced volume by 1/4. carefully puree soup with hand-held mixer. finish by stirring in 1/2 cup cream and salt & pepper.

place remaining 1/4 cup cream in squirt bottle. ladle soup into 4 wide-rimmed bowls. drizzle cream over soup in zigzag pattern. place small mound of toasted pumpkin seeds in center. top with cilantro sprig.

serves 4

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