Roasted Butternut Squash & Bacon Soup

Hi, I'm Melissa, and I have an addiction.

I'm addicted to roasting things.

It's true. I've spent the entire fall and winter playing "What can I roast next?" Because it is solid fact that every vegetable tastes better when it's tossed with the tiniest amount of oil, seasoned, and caramelized by roasting on high heat in the oven. Also works for meats and some fruits.

One of my other passions? Great soups. Especially the thick, hearty kind.

So when I saw a recipe for roasted butternut squash soup, it certainly caught my attention. 

And then... bacon.

Blended right into the soup. Smoky, bacony flavor in every bite. Because... bacon.

This is not a soup that requires 47 ingredients or multiple cooking techniques or even a lot of time. This is simplicity at its best.

These simple flavors, roasted and caramelized. It's irresistible, even if it's not strictly "soup weather." Which is good, since it is unseasonably warm for March. No matter. It's always time for bacon.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Soup

Adapted from damndelicious.net

Serves: 6

You'll need:

3 lb (roughly) of butternut squash 

1 onion

1 apple

4 strips of bacon

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 t dried thyme

salt & pepper

2 T olive oil

2 1/2 c chicken broth

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees while you prep your produce. Peel the squash, slice it, and cut into roughly 1-inch chunks.

If you're unfamiliar with butternut squash, you'll soon notice that the bulbous end has a mostly hollow interior with seeds and that goopy membrane stuff, similar to what you find in a pumpkin. Just like when you're making a jack-o-lantern, grab a spoon and scrape that stuff out.

Finish chopping the squash. Next, peel and core your apple, and cut into chunks of equal size to your squash.

Peel and roughly chop the onion. It is perfectly great if the layers stick together in a clump; individual pieces of onion would likely burn in the oven, so keeping these sections intact is actually helpful.

Finally, chop the raw bacon. I cut each strip into about 8 pieces. Don't dice it too finely, or it'll burn before the squash is cooked through.

Finally, mince your cloves of garlic, add the thyme, and salt and pepper to taste.

Drizzle the oil over everything and use your hands to mix thoroughly, making sure that everything is very lightly coated. Spread the mixture out in a single layer on two cookie sheets.

Roast everything for 25-30 minutes at 400 degrees, flipping with a spatula halfway through. Stab a few pieces of squash with a fork; if they're all soft, you're done.

Allow all that roasted deliciousness to cool for a few minutes, then transfer to the pitcher of a blender and add the chicken broth.

If you've got a big, powerful blender, you should be able to do the whole thing at once; if you have a smaller blender, start with half the roasted food and half the chicken broth and work in batches.

Puree everything until smooth.

Taste your soup and add salt and pepper, if necessary. You can also add more chicken broth to adjust the consistency. I like my soup very thick.

If you're eating the soup immediately, transfer to a saucepan to reheat.

Then serve up bowls of smoky, roasted fall flavor. (No matter what season it is.)

The original blogger recommends garnishing the soup with additional crisped and crumbled strips of bacon, as well as goat cheese and chives. Chopped up ham is great, because pork always calls for more pork. But my personal favorite? Feta cheese melting right into the soup.