Creamy Roasted Acorn Squash Soup

I love squash especially acorn squash and butternut squash. If i'm being honest there isn't much I don't love, food-wise that is, and my favorite cooking season is fall. The weather starts to cool down from the long hot summer and it's time to start making all those wonderful fall and winter comfort food dishes like soup and short ribs and pot roast. Just thinking about them makes my mouth water.

Roasted Acorn Squash Soup

Squash soups are some of my favorite soups to make, especially roasted butternut and roasted acorn squash soups. Their deliciously creamy texture gives them a wonderful feel, they are so versatile they pair well with a lot of different ingredients, and the flavor is amazing.

This acorn squash recipe is particularly nice. It has a slightly sweet flavor from the apple, pear, and brown sugar but it's balanced nicely by the acid from the wine, vinegar, and lemon.

Roasted Acorn Squash Soup With Yogurt And Pepitas

• Yield: 10 one cup servings
• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 90 minutes

Equipment

• 8 quart / 8 liter stock pot
• Blender

Ingredients

• 1 acorn squash
• 7 small carrots, peeled
• 2 Tbsp / 30 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 1 red onion, sliced thin
• 1 Tbsp / 12 grams kosher salt
• 1 1/2 Tsp / 4 grams cardamom
• 1 to 2 pinches pumpkin pie spice (See Recipe)
• 1 to 2 pinches white pepper
• 1 pear, diced
• 1 apple, diced
• 1/4 cup / 50 ml lemon juice
• 1/8 cup / 25 ml white wine vinegar
• 1/8 cup / 25 ml white wine
• 2 ounces / 55 grams brown sugar
• 4 1/2 ounces / 125 grams nonfat greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup / 50 ml nonfat milk
• Water to cover
• 1 ounce / 25 grams shelled pumpkin seeds, toasted

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350° F / 175° C.
   
2. Cut the acorn squash in half and place cut side down on a parchment lined sheet pan. Roast the squash in the oven until done, about an hour. Acorn Squash is done when you can insert a knife through it with no resistance.
3. Halfway through roasting toss the carrots onto the sheet pan. Remove from oven and let cool to the touch. You should get some caramelization on the squash where it was touching the pan, this is good.
   
4. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and stir to coat and distribute it. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until the onion is translucent. (It's called sweating the onion).
5. Rough chop the carrots and add them to the pot along with the salt, cardamom, pear, and apple. Cook stirring frequently until the vegetables soften a bit, about 10 minutes. Add the lemon juice, white wine vinegar, and white wine and stir well. Allow the liquid to simmer until it reduces by half. 
   
6. Meanwhile, scoop the squash out of the skin and set aside. Once the liquid has reduced add the squash and brown sugar. Stir to distribute and add enough water to just cover everything. Bring to a simmer and cook another 30 minutes, stirring often enough to prevent scorching.
   
7. Combine the yogurt and milk in a bowl and stir to loosen the yogurt. When the soup is done puree it in a blender. Working in batches, fill the blender bowl about a third of the way. Add about a fourth of the yogurt mixture to the soup. Place the lid on the bowl and place a folded kitchen towel on top of the lid. While applying firm pressure to the lid, via the towel, turn the blender on to the lowest setting. Then increase the speed until it is on high. Puree until you have a smooth homogeneous liquid. Transfer the soup to a clean pot and continue until all the soup is pureed. Important! See Below
   
8. To serve, fill a bowl with soup, add a dollop of yogurt and a drizzle of olive oil. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds over the top.

Notes

1. When you puree hot liquids the blender builds up pressure from the heat and blows the lid off spraying hot soup, or whatever you're pureeing, all over the kitchen and you, resulting in one big mess. Not only that, but it can cause burns, sometimes very serious burns. 
   
2. If you want to refine the soup further pass it through a fine mesh strainer.
   
3. If the soup is thicker than you like, after pureeing carefully, add a little water to thin it out.