Butternut Squash Soup

This past weekend, I threw my friend Stephanie a baby shower. Stephanie loves the season of autumn, so I wanted the menu to have a fall-ish feel to it. We had chicken salad sandwiches (not sure if that fits the category), a fruit and nut green salad, and butternut squash soup. The soup turned out very tasty, so I wanted to share the recipe. It's a variation of a recipe on Cook's Illustrated.

Ingredients:

Butternut squash - the recipe calls for 3 lbs., but I like my soup to be thick, so I did more like 5 lbs.

4T butter

4 cups water

2 cups chicken broth

1 yellow onion (less if you like less onion flavor), minced

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 t brown sugar

Salt

Spices of choice - I used paprika, cayenne, some onion powder, but you can make the recipe sweeter and do more sugar

Directions:

1. Cut the squash (unpeeled) in half and scoop out the seeds and fibers. Do not throw away! Quarter the squash so that you have good-sized chunks to boil.

2. In a Dutch oven over medium high heat, melt the butter and add the minced onion. Cook until translucent.

3. Add seeds and fibers and saute until the butter has turned a nice yellow-orange color, about 4 minutes.

4. Add water, chicken broth, and a dash of salt and bring to boil. Add squash and reduce heat to medium low. Cover and cook for half hour, or until squash is tender.

5. When tender, remove squash and let cool on baking sheet.

6. Use a colander and large bowl to drain liquid, but do not throw out liquid! Throw out seeds and fibers.

7. Once cool, scoop out the squash and throw out peels.

8. Using a blender, puree the squash with the remaining liquid, doing small batches at a time.

9. Pour the puree back into the Dutch oven. Stir in cream and brown sugar.

10. Add salt (and spices) to taste. Serve!

This really turned out great, so give it a try if you're looking for an autumn soup.