Mysterious Butternut Squash Soup

Continuing on my mission to find the perfect butternut squash soup, I stumbled upon an old recipe stuffed into my files. It looked interesting – I’d never thought of spicing up the simple soup – and I was intrigued. Besides, it called for garnishing the bowl with sour cream and bacon. The resulting soup was much more adult, much more exotic than expected. And I don’t care who you are, bacon makes everything taste better. If you don’t agree, please walk away shamefaced. We have no room for you here.

Butternut Squash Soup

I honestly have no idea where this recipe is from. It is chicken-scratched on what looks like papyrus. If anyone recognizes it please let me know!

6 bacon slices

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 celery ribs, chopped

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 (20 oz) packages butternut squash, peeled and cubed or equivalent

1 (32 oz) container low-sodium chicken broth

¼ cup whipping cream

2 to 3 tbsp fresh lime juice

1½ tbsp honey

2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/8 tsp ground allspice

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground red pepper

Garnishes: sour cream, fresh thyme sprigs

Cook bacon slices in a Dutch oven until crisp. Remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving 2 tablespoons drippings in Dutch oven. Crumble bacon.

Sauté onion and carrots in hot drippings in Dutch oven over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Add celery and apple, and sauté 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 30 seconds. Add butternut squash and chicken broth. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until carrots are tender.

Process squash mixture, in batches, in a blender or food processor until smooth. Return to Dutch oven. Add whipping cream and next 7 ingredients. Simmer 10 to 15 minutes or until thickened. Top each serving with bacon. Garnish, if desired.

I served this in a big martini glass. Gorgeous!

For a printable version of this recipe, please click here.