Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

From Andrea Bolter

Here’s a holiday favorite of mine: Butternut Squash Soup. When it comes to entertaining, I really fit the image of a casual and unfussy Californian. This soup is almost impossible to mess up and can be tweaked in infinite ways. I like to ladle it into small coffee cups that I serve from a tray as guests are mulling about before dinner.

The recipe is so easy. I double it to feed a crowd.

1 large butternut squash

1 liter/quart broth (I like organic low-sodium chicken but vegetable is fine, too)

½ teaspoon ground cumin

salt & pepper

plain Greek yogurt for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 425F/220C/Gas Mark 7

Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise.

Lay the two pieces cut side down on a baking sheet, which I line with tin foil for quick clean up.

Bake for about an hour until the squash is soft to the touch.

Let it cool completely (you can even do this the day before and store it in the fridge).

Remove the seeds from the squash.

Scoop out the flesh, discarding the skin.

Puree the flesh together with the broth, either with an immersion blender or in batches in a traditional blender, or you can even hand mash it.

In a large soup pot, heat over a medium flame until just under a boil, stirring frequently.

Season with the cumin, and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the soup in cups or bowls, anything from elegant to everyday.

Garnish with a dollop of yogurt, or a swirl of crème fraiche, or a few bits of crumbled sausage, some toasted seeds, snipped chives…the possibilities are endless.

From my house to yours – Happy Holidays!

TRUE LOVE AUTHOR

ANDREA BOLTER

Andrea Bolter has always been fascinated by matters of the heart. In fact, she’s the one her girlfriends turn to for advice with their love lives. She can’t help but analyze people and imagine what goes on in their brains. A city mouse, she’s the one eavesdropping on you at a café or in the long line for the ladies’ room at a concert.

She grew up scribbling in notebooks with a poem here, a snippet of dialogue there, and an essay in between. Studying both creative and news writing in school, the first words Andrea ever got paid to write were procedure manuals for an insurance company. Not too sexy but, hey, she was off and running! Along the way, she landed as a journalist. After hundreds of articles and a couple of awards, she decided to pursue her lifelong dream of writing fiction, first by publishing short stories.

Even with her soft spot for tales of loves, she credits more than just snooping and romance writing as her influences. She loves travel and music and movies. It might be a romantic comedy she’s seen a hundred times that inspires her forward into a new idea.

Lucky enough to have lived in great cities like New York and San Francisco, Andrea calls her childhood stomping ground of Los Angeles home. She’ll have to write her and her husband’s story into a novel someday. Meeting very young they dated for a few years, then separated for five, but found their way back to each other. Together, they have one marvelous daughter.

Andrea is jumping-up-and-down-thrilled to be part of the romance community! Say hi via email at andrea@andreabolter.com or on social media.

Check out Andrea’s latest book…

Is Life outside the palace Walls everything she dreamed of?

When billionaire Gio Grassi rescues a beautiful stranger on the streets of Florence he never imagined she’d be royalty! Princess Luciana’s vivacity intrigues him.

With her arranged royal wedding only weeks away, can this chance encounter change their lives forever?