Butternut Squash Soup

I impulsively bought an Instant Pot last week, and I tried it out Sunday by making Butternut Squash Soup.

Other than prep, with the pressure cooking setting on the Instant Pot, we had scratch-made soup in 20 minutes. I was impressed. And the soup was delicious.

To be clear, you can make this soup on your stove top. It will simply take much longer to soften your squash to the point that you can blitz it up into soup.

The preschoolers loved the soup. They ate it with fresh ciabatta bread from our local farmer’s market, and asked for more.

Butternut Squash Soup

One large butternut squash, about four pounds, peeled, seeded, and cut into one-inch chunks

4-6 cups chicken or vegetable stock, or equivalent

1 large shallot, peeled and diced

1-2 T. olive or canola oil

1/2 t. powdered ginger

1/2 t. mild curry powder (I used Penzey’s Maharajah curry powder)

salt and pepper to taste

On the stove: Sauté shallots in oil until tender; add enough butternut squash cubes to fit the bottom and let carmelize briefly. Add the rest of the cubes and stir. Cover with four cups of stock. Add the curry and ginger powders. Simmer until the squash is soft, 1 to 2 hours. Blend with an immersion blender. Thin with more stock (or milk). Serve.

In the Instant Pot: Use sauté setting to proceed as above, but after the stock is added, switch to pressure cooking on high for fifteen minutes. Vent with quick release when done. Blend, and thin if necessary with stock or milk. Serve.