Soup's On: Roasted Fall Vegetable Soup

I created this soup on a whim. I'd read about a pumpkin soup that used peanut butter last week. Peanut butter? My curiosity was piqued. However, the recipe was in Polish and it involved apples, not something I wanted in my soup. I thought maybe I could make my own pumpkin soup with peanut butter, no apples. So when I was standing in the produce section of my market a few days later, surrounded by fall's bounty, an idea clicked. I would roast the vegetables then add peanut butter! And I didn't want just pumpkin since I'm not a huge fan; I wanted other veggies. 


I grabbed a small soup pumpkin, an acorn squash, two sweet potatoes, a small yellow onion and a bulb of garlic. I was ready. I didn't take pictures of the process. And I don't have exact measurements since that's not the way I was raised in the south to cook but I'll do my best to share what I did because the soup is excellent. Seriously, it's like velvet on my tongue. My husband had a bowl last night and said the soup improved and tasted better with each spoonful. He declared it the best Fall soup. My mother even liked it and she's not a fan of the pumpkin or the acorn squash. Okay, okay, enough praise for the soup. Here's how I did it.


booturtle's roasted pumpkin and squash soup
Ingredients:

• 1 small pumpkin
• 1 acorn squash
• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1 small yellow onion
• 1 bulb of garlic
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• thyme
• nutmeg
• olive oil
• creamy peanut butter
• vegetable or chicken broth

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Seed, peel, and dice the pumpkin and acorn squash; into about one inch pieces. Try to keep sizes similar so they will cook evenly. Peel and cube sweet potato. Peel onion and cut into thick slices. Peel garlic cloves; I used half a bulb. Adjust more or less to your garlic preference. 
3. Add all prepared veggies to a large jelly roll pan and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat. Veggies will fill pan. If I were roasting to serve I would not overcrowd my pan this way. But since I know I will be pureeing, it's okay if they steam each other and get a little soft in the roasting process. Sprinkle kosher salt, fresh ground pepper and thyme over veggies. Then lightly sprinkle nutmeg over all. 
4. Roast in oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes take out and flip veggies. Roast another 15 minutes; until edges are beginning to brown all over. Do not burn. 
5. Remove from oven and cool slightly. Puree in food processor. If too thick add a little olive oil or broth. Then drop in two tablespoons of creamy peanut butter and process until smooth and incorporated. Puree will taste divine already.  The amount of peanut butter is up to your tastes. I did not measure my peanut butter. I scooped out one heaping spoonful using my large flatware spoon. Dropped it in and tasted the puree. Thought it could handle one more. You do not want the peanut butter flavor to overpower the roasted veggies. It's just adding a complement to the sweetness from the roasting process.
6. After puree is smooth slowly add in about two cups of broth while food processor is on, this will help thin the puree before adding all the broth. Transfer puree to large pot and stir in remaining broth. I used the vegetable broth I had on hand in the pantry; chicken broth would also work. I started with a large 32oz. container. I thought it was great that way but my mom thought it was still too thick so I added another 14oz. can of broth. Add to your tastes of how thick/thin you prefer your soups. I'd say it does need at least 5 cups of broth and can handle as much as 8 cups. Heat through over medium heat. Serve.

I'd love to hear if you make the soup. And if you found it as lovely as I did. Also love to hear about any changes you made to the recipe and ingredients. Don't like acorn squash? Double the pumpkin? Don't like peanut butter? Try almond butter or leave it out completely. Add a drizzle of cream to make it more decadent. Although I will say this soup tastes like it has ample cream in it while it has none. I credit the creamy texture to the roasting process. If you have any questions about my recipe, ask away. When I make it again after this batch is gone I'll try to measure more and come back and edit this post.

Happy eating!