Butternut Squash Curry Soup

Soup, soup, and more soup! Apparently soup is my flavor of the month. However, despite making several different kinds, this one continues to stick out as one of my favorites. Butternut squash truly blends well into soup, and this one adds the flavors of apples (always a good partnership) and some mild curry spices for a delicious side dish, appetizer, or even main course. While it served here as a main course you could easily serve it with a salad and some crusty bread for dipping and make it an entire, hearty yet healthy meal.

This night, however, I chose to pair it with some freshly made shrimp and broccoli pizza. To me, homemade pizza is always a good idea and it did not fail to impress here. I used whole wheat crust to add some nutrition, whipped up some salt-free tomato sauce, and threw in some onions and mushrooms as well. Feel free to adjust this recipe to suit whatever you had in mind for the night!

Difficulty: easy
Time: 40 min
Cost: $18.96



Butternut Squash Curry Soup
Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
1 c leek, very thinly sliced
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cumin
5 garlic cloves, minced
5 c butternut squash, peeled and chopped
3 c apple, chopped
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/3 c fat free half and half
1/2 c fresh cilantro, chopped

(this recipe is based upon a similar one from Cooking Light)

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the oil and let it heat as well. When the oil is hot, add the leek. Stir and cook for two minutes. Add the curry powder, brown sugar, cumin, and garlic cloves. Stir in the additions, then let the leek saute for another 2 minutes.

Toss in the squash and apple. Pour in 5 cups of water. Bring to a boil, and then immediately cover, turn down the heat, and simmer. Simmer for about 25 minutes, just stirring a couple times. The vegetables should all be quite tender at that point.

Pour 1/2 or 1/3 of the mixture (however much will fit) into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl. Continue the process until all of the soup has been blended.

Pour the soup back into the pan and keep over low heat. Stir in the pepper and half and half. Cook for one minute or until thoroughly heated.

Pour the soup back into the bowl. Sprinkle with the chopped cilantro and serve.