Butternut Soup

Butternut squash soup is one of my absolute favorite soups, and it is very common in restaurants in South Africa. So common that “squash” is often left out and it is just called butternut. It surpasses the flavor of the pumpkin soups of Taiwan I so often ate. This recipe from Rainbow Nation is done the traditional South African way: Butternut Soup Recipe 
I am blenderless at the moment, so when my in-laws came to visit recently I roasted lots of different veggies in olive oil for about an hour, and pureed them with the blender I’d asked my mother-in-law to bring along on her visit. I then froze these to use in soups as I did here with the squash and onion. For the apple, I just used a masher once it was cooked through.  I replaced the nutmeg with cinnamon, and served the soup with lots of pepper, a dollop of plain yogurt, and homemade croutons. To make the croutons, cut bread into squares (I use old crusts I’ve kept in the freezer) and throw them on a cookie sheet with olive oil and herbs. These should be turned often and take about 15 minutes to get just hard.