*

If you’re looking for a rich tasting, thick and creamy soup without all the added fat, this recipe is perfect. Serve with your favorite salad. This recipe yields about 6 servings.

8 cups of 1″ diced roasted butternut squash
1 cup chopped leeks *see note below
1/2 cup chopped red onion, roughly chopped
4 medium garlic cloves, roughly chopped
3 Tbl olive oil
32 oz chicken stock
3 tsp chicken base (bouillon paste)
3 tsp salt and 2 tsp pepper, (more or less to taste)

Preheat oven at 425 degrees. Peel, seed, and dice butternut squash into 1″ pieces. Place the squash onto a lined baking sheet, add 2 Tbl olive oil, 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper and blend together. Place the squash into the oven, and roast until tender, about 20-25 minutes. In the meantime, add 1 Tbl of olive oil to a 6 quart stock pot, add the leeks, onion 1 tsp salt, and 1 tsp pepper to the pot and sweat until translucent, about 10 minutes. Turn the heat up slightly, and lightly brown the leeks and onions, this will take about 2 minutes. Turn the heat back down and add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Add the chicken stock and the chicken base. Once the squash is roasted, add it to the stockpot. Cook for about 10 minutes. Use an immersion blender to blend until smooth. A regular blender may also be used, (do in batches not filling the blending more than of the soup at a time, since the hot liquid expands in the blender and can burn Garnish with your favorite croutons and a drizzle of olive oil.

*Once the leeks are chopped, place them into a bowl of cold water and agitate them, this will help get the sand out of the leeks. Remove the leeks from the bowl and set in a strainer to drain off the residual water.