This is a very simple recipe, and the inspiration behind it, like most of our recipes, stems from a happy childhood memory. Every year, our family would travel to Florida for March break – in classic Montreal snowbird style – and on the way, we always stopped at Prezzo, an Italian restaurant on the outskirts of Boca Raton. Instead of a typical olive oil to dip our warm crusty bread into, Prezzo would serve whole heads of squishy caramelized garlic, and we would delight in smearing the cloves straight onto the bread. We devoured more garlic than should be possible, so how we made it to the appetizers or mains is anyone’s guess. For this recipe, we took the memory of roasted garlic, added some seasonal gourds and blended it all up into a satisfying winter soup. –Mandy Wolfe and Rebecca Wolfe
Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 1 whole head garlic divided into cloves and peeled
- 2 small butternut squashes cut into 1-inch cubes (about 8 cups)
- ¼ cup olive oil
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup diced-small onion
- 2 tsp thyme leaves
- 3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- In a large bowl, toss the garlic and squash with 3 tbsp of the olive oil and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Transfer and spread out on a 13-by-9-inch sheet tray and roast in the oven until the squash is very soft, 40 to 45 minutes.
- In a Dutch oven, heat the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the onion and 1 tsp of the thyme and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens and becomes translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add the roasted squash and garlic to the pot, followed by the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for a few minutes.
- Purée the soup in a blender (or directly in the pot using an immersion blender) until smooth. Check the seasoning, and adjust with salt and pepper to taste. Serve topped with the remaining thyme leaves.
Notes
