Chopbiscuit at home recipes: Maple-Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Spicy Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

It's fall. It's harvest time. It's soupy.

Cooking in the fall just feels right. Especially when you're cooking with local, hand-made ingredients. Butternut squash gives off a bright golden hue with deep, sweet flavor. Accompany that with some Vermont Grade A medium amber maple syrup and it's a nice, warm, fall appropriate dish. This soup is great for any occasion outside of a Hitler Youth rally. You get the picture.


Maple-Roasted Butternut squash Soup with Spicy Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Yield: 4-6 servings

1 medium butternut squash
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons Grade A maple syrup
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons creme fraiche/heavy cream
3 cups chicken stock (low sodium)
2 cups spicy toasted pumpkin seeds

(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a large knife, cut the squash lengthwise down the middle. Scoop out the seeds and set them aside if you're planning to use them for anything. (Glaze them with maple?)

(2) Place the squash halves, flesh side up, in a baking dish. Place a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of maple syrup in each squash cavity. Sprinkle each half with a 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Cover the squash with foil and bake for 1 1/2 hours until the squash is tender and soft.

(3) Pour the liquid from the squash cavity into a food processor and then scoop all the flesh into it. Add another tablespoon of butter, maple syrup and 2 tablespoons of creme fraiche. Puree until smooth and silky.

(5) Transfer the puree to a medium saucepan and whisk in 2 cups of chicken stock and heat over medium heat. Thin it out by slowing adding the remaining one cup of stock and salt to taste.


*When serving, top with spicy toasted pumpkin seeds.