Squash Soup

This is a soup that I picked up from MsCountryW. from the tube. She called it "Invalid Squash Soup" because she had broken her collar bone (OUCH!) from breaking in a mustang up in Wisconsin (btw, I constantly miss Wisconsin now that I don't have access to it anymore, you know, from living on the east coast and all that). All ingredients get pureed later after it cools a bit.

Squash Soup:

• 2 lb butternut squash (save the seeds to dry fry in a pan, yummy! my favorite)
• 1 large onion, rough chopped
• 2 apples, peeled and rough chopped
• 6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 Tb rosemary (I had the dried stuff, going to plant some for fresh herbs in the apartment)
• Optional: 1/4 C milk, cream or half and half

Bring stock to a boil, add all the rest of the ingredients. Continue to boil for about 20 minutes or until all the ingredients are soft (they will still hold their shape, but you want it soft enough to puree it in a blender -extra side note if it's hot there will be a vortex suction in a blender so use caution!- and I use a hand held gadget for all my pureeing needs (still gives quite a kick for suction tho even with this gadget). 

Since my rosemary wasn't fresh, there were a lot of pieces that just didn't get pureed right, plus there are twigs from the branches in the dried stuff. I strained the soup and worked down the pulp through the mesh leaving a gourmet looking squash soup in the end. I didn't add the milk in the main pot but I just added a dab of milk to all our soup bowls before serving. Give it a swirl and it looks very attractive, kind of like the cappuccinos with the fancy swirls inside the cup.

Great way to use squash. I liked this very much.