Roasted Butternut Squash & Shallot Soup

Do yourself a favor and make this soup. Even if you or whoever you are making it for might be a little skeptical about butternut squash, still make it. My friend Sam passed this recipe along to me about a year ago and I've been hooked since. Even my husband who was skeptical of this vegetable based soup for dinner was easily converted into a fan. The other day when talking about his favorite recipes, he put it in the same category as Prime Rib and Beef Tenderloin. Needless to say, it's a favorite in our apartment and I regret not making a double or triple batch every time I make it for dinner.

In my recipe, I roast a whole head of garlic when making the soup, but only use a couple of cloves actually in the soup. The other cloves I smear on some buttered toast to eat on the side, it's heavenly! 

My recipe adapted from Cooking Light is below. I take the shortcut and buy the pre peeled and cut butternut squash, which I highly recommend doing to make this an easy weeknight meal

Ingredients
1-1/2 pounds peeled and cut (about 1" pieces) butternut squash
4 shallots, peeled and cut in half
1-1/2 inches ginger, sliced thinly
1 head of garlic
1 tablespoon +1 teapoon of olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 -1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons chives, sliced in 1/2 inch pieces
black pepper

Directions
Cut top 1/4 to 1/2 inch off of garlic head, and remove any loose skin. Place garlic head in baking dish, drizzle with 1 teaspoon olive oil and and cover (you can use aluminum foil). Place in oven (before preheating).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Toss squash, shallots, ginger, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt, and cayenne together and place on baking pan. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until tender and cooked through. Remove squash mixture and garlic from oven and cool for 10 minutes.

Add squash mixture, 2-3 cloves of garlic, and  chicken broth to blender and mix until smooth (you can do this in 2 batches if needed). Add mixture to stove top pan and cook over medium heat until heated through, about 5 minutes. Serve with chives and black pepper on top.

Spread the rest of the garlic cloves on buttered toast to eat alongside soup. Enjoy!