Butternut Squash & Apple Soup

[Carolyn Fox]

This soup was crazy good.

1 medium onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 small apples, peeled, cored, and diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large butternut squash, halved, with seeds removed (I used pre-chopped squash from the market)
3 cups chicken stock (you can also use vegetable stock or water)
1/2 pumpkin ale (or any dark beer)
1/2 hard apple cider (or apple juice)
1 large carrot, chopped
2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced
salt, pepper, parsley, and oregano to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Rub some olive oil on halved squash and roast it for about 45-60 minutes, til soft. I put mine in a baking dish and covered it with aluminum foil to keep it from drying out.

In the meantime, saute the onions, apples, celery and carrots in a large pot with some olive oil until soft. Add the roasted butternut squash (cut it into smaller pieces if you need to) and the garlic, and saute 5 minutes more.

Deglaze the pot with pumpkin ale and hard apple cider, and stir.

Add chicken stock and seasonings. Simmer about 10 minutes.

Puree in blender in small batches. Return to the pot to reheat if necessary. Serve sprinkled with parsley, and swirled with a dash of milk, if you like.

[Morganna]

Is there anything I could substitute for the alcoholic beverage without changing it too awful much? Don't like that stuff.

[tonyo]

I would think that coffee would possibly work.  I wouldn't go too strong or dark.  You could also more chicken stock.

[Morganna]

Heh, I'm difficult, can't have coffee (technically I'm not supposed to have alcohol, either) because of our surgery, but if I"d used coffee, my husband would have rebelled (he's always hated it).  So more broth it is.   Though, on the other hand, he doesn't LIKE soup, so he wouldn't be having this anyway... hmmm...

[tonyo]

I wonder if alcohol, once cooked, would be acceptable ? 

[JasonFrishman]

i do a really similar soup and use coconut milk...
yum!

[Morganna]

I wonder if alcohol, once cooked, would be acceptable ? 

Nah, because cooking doesn't really render out as much of the alcohol as most people think.   Though of course something that cooks longer is going to have it evaporate more than things that are quickly cooked.  Still, the double combination of not really liking the taste of most alcoholic things along with not really supposed to be having it at all is pretty solid in itself.

[Morganna]

i do a really similar soup and use coconut milk...
yum!

Oh that sounds cool! Thanks for the idea!  I've used coconut milk to make hot chocolate with (instead of milk milk, to avoid the lactose) and it's FABOO!

[Carolyn Fox]

I think you can pretty much use any liquid to deglaze.  It doesn't have to be alcoholic (I just thought it tasted good that way!).  I'd recommend adding more apple juice or soup stock.  Water would be okay, but you would lose flavor that way.  Let me know how it goes!