Squarsh Soup

   This week was a soup kind of week.  It being that time of year, I've got a counter full of butternut squarsh and apples that have been giving me the eye, so I figured I would give the Creamy Winter Squarsh Soup (Version II) a whirl (pg 60).  I was able to use a lot of my own produce for this recipe; the onions and squarsh were grown in my parents garden, and the apples were a mystery brand grown on one of our apple trees back home, so that was extra cool.

   I changed a few things with the recipe.  I had no desire to cube raw squarsh, so I actually baked it for about a half hour to soften up the rind a bit, and that seemed to work really well without affecting the taste of the product. While that was in the oven, I was able to chop up all of the onions and apples.  All of that went into a pot together, with some tarragon and organic chicken stock.  I made this recipe on a Sunday, so running to the store for white wine wasn't an option.  Instead, I just added extra stock.

   After everything had simmered, I used a Magic Bullet to puree the soup -- it ended up being super creamy and smooth.   I ended up with a fair amount of soup, so I decided to freeze some after pureeing.  To the rest, I added a splash of cream and some chives to garnish the top.

    One of my good friends had a sore throat that day, making him the perfect taste-tester.