Squash soup for a fall day

While I love the warm weather of summer and never want it to end, there are some things I have grown to look forward to in fall. As the weather turns cooler, one of my favorite things to do is to sit down with a warm bowl of soup next to a window. I like to watch the trees with their gold, crimson and auburn leaves being teased in the breeze as they gently swirl to the ground.

One of my go to fall recipes is squash soup. This squash soup is combination of a few recipes that I have tried over the years. Cooking it with bacon really adds to its rich hearty flavor. However, it also works well as a vegetarian recipe if you remove the bacon and substitute vegetable for chicken broth.

Ingredients:

• 2 large butternut squash
• 8 strips of bacon (optional)
• 1 large onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 5 cups of chicken broth
• ½ tsp. thyme
• ½ tsp. sage
• ¼ tsp. nutmeg
• 1 Tbsp. coriander
• Small pinch of cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• A handful of chives

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Cut squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds
• Dice onion and crush garlic
• Place squash face down over strips of bacon, onion and garlic. This will allow the smoky bacon, garlic and onion flavors to cook nicely into the squash.
• Roast at 350 for 1-1.5 hours, until soft
• Peel and roughly chop the squash. Place in a pot with chicken broth
• Blend together (I used an immersion blender)
• Bring to a simmer
• In the meantime, bacon can be placed in frying pan to reach desired level of crunchiness. Then dice the bacon and mix into the soup (saving some for a garnish).
• Season with spices
• Garnish with extra bacon and chives

Enjoy!