For a delicious and nutritious vegetable soup, butternut squash is hard to beat; this soup is so easy to make, too! If your supermarket has the pre-peeled and cut butternut squash chunks available in the produce section, you can save a lot of time. Butternut squash has a very tough peel and while it’s not difficult to prepare, the peeling and cutting takes some time and effort; for soup, squash that’s pre-peeled is a huge timesaver.
This simple butternut squash soup recipe can be made in a heavy soup pot or a pressure cooker. It doesn’t work very well in a slow cooker; the flavors and color lose a lot of vibrance.
2 pounds of peeled and seeded butternut squash, cut into chunks
1 pound of carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 bay leaf
⅓ cup white rice
2 to 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
pepper
Place all ingredients in soup pot or pressure cooker. Add water to the level of about 1 inch over the vegetables.
Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes (if using a soup pot) or bring to high pressure and cook at high pressure for 6 minutes (if using a pressure cooker). Then puree the soup (an immersion or stick blender is great for this job), taste and correct seasonings, and serve.
Butternut squash and carrot soup goes great with grilled cheese sandwiches and a green salad, and is wonderful to take for lunch in an insulated jar the next day.
