Butternut Squash Apple Soup

The garden is coming down. October is a week away but September knows when it is time to start closing. I pulled the last of the tomatoes yesterday — the ones still green that Helen will wrap in newspaper and lay on the cellar shelf, where they will ripen slowly over the next six weeks and end up in November sauce better than anything August produced. That is the dirty secret about tomatoes: patience is always the ingredient the recipe forgets to mention.

The sugar maples along the north fence are already showing red at the tips. The beeches go yellow before anything else, and I noticed a stand of them up the hill turning overnight into something that would embarrass a painter for being too obvious. Vermont autumns have no subtlety. They announce themselves like Helen announcing dinner — loud, confident, absolutely correct.

I have been working on a talk for the Hinesburg Historical Society. They want to hear about maple sugaring in Chittenden County — the history of it, not just the mechanics. Helen volunteered me for this in June, which is the kind of thing she does. I said yes, naturally, because I have never in forty years been able to say no to her and I do not plan to start at sixty-five. The talk is next month. I spent an hour today pulling out my grandfather's account books from the sugarhouse shelf — records he kept in pencil from 1921 through 1948. The numbers are precise. The handwriting is mine, almost exactly. Some things skip generations; some things do not.

For the soup pot this week: the butternut squash that has been curing on the back porch. I roast them whole until the skin chars and the flesh collapses into sweetness, then scrape them into the pot with onion and garlic and the last of the fresh sage from the garden, a splash of cider vinegar to cut the sweetness, and enough water to make it soup rather than porridge. No cream — Helen's version has cream, but I like it clear, the squash doing its own work. We have disagreed on this for thirty years. We are both right.

Frost sleeps in the sugarhouse at night now. The nights are cold enough for it to be his preferred spot. He is eight years old this fall. Slower in the mornings. Aren't we all.

The soup I described — roasted butternut, sage, a splash of cider vinegar — is the one I make on instinct, the way you make anything you’ve made for thirty years. But when Helen reminded me that the last of the Cortlands were still sitting in the mudroom basket, I agreed, just this once, to let the apple into the pot alongside the squash. It belongs there the way the beech trees belong at the edge of the sugarhouse lot — not because anyone planned it, but because the season arranged it that way. This is the version we landed on together, which is how most of the best things in this house have come to be.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr 5 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash (about 3 lbs), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 medium apples (such as Cortland or Granny Smith), peeled, cored, and chopped
1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Salt and black pepper to taste
Fresh sage leaves or pepitas, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Roast the squash. Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss butternut squash cubes with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and a generous pinch of salt. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 25–30 minutes, turning once, until tender and beginning to caramelize at the edges.
Sauté the aromatics. While the squash roasts, warm the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6–8 minutes until softened and golden. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
Add the apple and spices. Stir in the chopped apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Cook for 3–4 minutes until the apple begins to soften and the spices are fragrant.
Combine and simmer. Add the roasted squash to the pot along with the broth. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes to let the flavors come together.
Blend. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup directly in the pot until smooth, or carefully transfer in batches to a blender. Blend until the texture is silky and uniform.
Finish and season. Stir in the apple cider vinegar. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. If the soup is thicker than you’d like, add broth a splash at a time until it reaches your preferred consistency.
Serve. Ladle into bowls and garnish with fresh sage leaves or toasted pepitas if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Butternut Squash Apple Soup — The Squash Does Its Own Work