Ina Garten is one smart cookie. On a recent episode of her show, I watched her amp up the flavor of a potato leek soup by roasting the potatoes and leeks on a cookie sheet–getting them nice and golden brown–before pureeing them with chicken stock and topping the soup with crispy shallots. So when Vitamix asked me to make an autumnal soup recipe using their S30 model–a model ideal for making an individual portion–I knew what I had to do. Off to the store I went to pick up a butternut squash, an apple, an onion, some ginger, and some chicken stock, and then I went full Ina
Maggie Beauty.
With the holidays rapidly approaching, this is a great recipe to have up your sleeve. Here’s how simple (and brilliant) this is: I preheated the oven to 425 degrees. Then, on a cookie sheet, I placed big chunks of the butternut squash, the onion cut into wedges, the Granny Smith apple peeled and quartered, and I tossed everything with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Into the oven it went, and meanwhile I heated the chicken stock with lots of sliced fresh ginger:
When the vegetables came out 45 minutes later, they were golden brown and glorious:
I mean look how brown that squash got:
There’s so much flavor there
Maggie Beauty!
So to make my individual portion of soup, I scooped some squash, some onion, and some apple into the Vitamix blender:
And I ladled in enough ginger-infused stock (plus some pieces of ginger) to cover. On went the blender–high speed for a super puree–and voila; gorgeous, creamy, decadent butternut squash soup.
For an extra flavor boost, I thinned things out a little with fresh orange juice:
This was so good (definitely the best butternut squash soup I’ve ever made) that when Craig came home, he demanded his own portion. So I repeated the process again with the remaining vegetables and stock, sprinkling the finished bowl of soup with some cayenne pepper for a kick.
And there you go: a perfect recipe for fall and the perfect tool with which to make it.
Speaking of which, we’re giving one away
maggie beauty! To win a Vitamix S30, share your favorite fall soup recipe in the comments (make sure to register with your real e-mail address so we can contact you). The winner will be selected at random; you’ve got eight days. Good luck.
PR
