Karin's Week Forty-Six Recipe: Squash Soup

In my house, squash is only enjoyed by one member of the household, so I don't get to cook it very often. At a dinner outing in the past, the other member of the household was served squash soup, and he liked it, as it didn't have the texture of cooked squash. I had two squash to cook, one a butternut, and the other a random white squash from someone at work's garden (free for the taking from the break room).  The recipe came from The Occasional Vegetarian cookbook.

Roasted Winter Squash Soup
1 large acorn squash (about 2lb), or other winter squash
1 medium leek, white and light green parts, cleaned and chopped
1 T olive oil
1 T chopped fresh sage, or 1 tsp dried
1/8 tsp five spice powder
4 cups vegetable stock, or stock of your choice (I used chicken)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 small to medium apple

Preheat oven to 375deg. Halve and seed squash. Place cut side down on cookie sheet and bake until tender, 45-60min. Meanwhile, in heavy-bottom pot, saute the leek in the olive oil 1-2min. Add the sage and five spice powder. Cover and cook until leek is soft, about 10min. (Note: this will make the leek stick to the bottom of your pan. I recommend stirring occasionally, or adding more oil) Add the stock, salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer, then uncover.

Peel, core, and dice the apple. Add it to the simmering stock and cook until soft, about 15min. Remove squash from shell and dice. Add to pot and simmer for a few minutes. Puree soup using food mill, blender, food processor, or stick blender.

This recipe was very tasty, even reheated the next day. And, Nate will eat it! Finally a way to make squash palatable to the entire household. If I have extra squash in the future I will be trying to make this again.