Roasted Squash Soup with Apple and Brie

I love soup...doesn't matter from where or what country. Give me a bowl of steaming hot soup and I'm happy!! I think it's because I grew up having soup after supper every night and if there wasn't homemade soup, well, instant was better than nothing. I don't have soup after supper all the time now and miss that so soup is a big treat!!

I'm not so into creamy soups because they are too rich. The only creamy soup I like are New England Clam Chowder and Mushroom soup. Unfortunately I don't know how to appreciate rich soups.

Recently I noticed in the last 5+ years, butternut squash soup and roasted red pepper soup are really popular. I've been wanting to make this type a soup for a long time.

What stopped me was when I looked at the recipes, many asked for cream or sour cream to be added to the soup. I know that adding the dairy product will make the soup silkier and smooth but also more calories. One big pot of this would be too much for me to enjoy.

As well most soups are pureed. I didn't own a blender until recently and Magic Bullet for a big pot of soup would take forever. So that was a major deterrent.

So when I discovered this recipe called "Roasted Squash Soup with Apple and Brie" in my The Rest of the Best and more, I was excited.



Even better was that it required ingredients I already had at home. To make it rich and creamy, the recipe asks for Brie, which seemed optional to me.

So here's how to make it;

First cut the butternut squash in half and remove the seed. Bake in oven for 40 minutes at 350F. This is to "roast" the squash. To me it didn't make a big difference roasted or not roasted.



While it was roasting, I cut 1 medium onion into 2.5 cm pieces. For a circular onion, I'm not sure what that meant. I just chopped big pieces.



I measured 8 cups of chicken broth. Actually the real reason I wanted to make this soup was because the previous day, I made a Chinese style chicken which resulted in a big pot of broth. So I just used that.



If I didn't have broth, I might just use water. I try not to use purchased chicken broth as it has too much sodium. I also use a vegetable broth from a Chinese grocery store.

Then I sautéed the onion, 1 leek (only the white part...why? Why not use the green part? Now I'm stuck with the green part of the leek but no recipe) and 1 carrot. Do not brown.



Once the squash was done, I removed the skin off the squash.




Then cut the squash into big chunks.



And added it to the sauteed vegetables.



I added the chicken broth and heated the soup until it boiled.



Once it boiled, I added 1 peeled and cored apple and 1 bay leaf. I lowered the heat to a simmer for 40 minutes.



At this point, the recipe said to purée the soup and add salt and pepper to taste. I was too lazy to use my blender and wash it afterwards that I decided to just use the back of my spoon to squash the apples and butternut squash. Hehe is this considered "rustic" since it's so free form?



Anyways, recipe said to put a 1cm piece of Brie with rind removed.



Add the hot soup and voila. The Brie should melt, giving it a Brie taste and providing the silky texture of a dairy product.



Here's my rustic soup. The vegetables are still chunky pieces but I'm ok with that.



Final Thoughts:
This was Soooo yummy and Soooo easy to make. I will make this again and again. Since I decided not to puree the soup, next time, I'll put in more vegetable, including the green part of the leek.

I only had the Brie in my first bowl of soup. I love soft cheeses like Brie but the particular brand I bought was TERRIBLE that it ruined the first bowl of soup. Secondly, I wanted a healthy soup so thought adding too much cheese wasn't a good idea.

Try it. If you want a properly typed full recipe, message me and I'll send you the full recipe.