A few weeks ago, I went out to lunch with two of my old friends and colleagues. When I eat with them, they always take me to the coolest places I would never find on my own. This time it was Dogwood Gourmet., an awesome Baltimore catering company focusing on local farms and business for their menu items.

We all started our meal with an Autumn Squash soup and it was DELICIOUS! They garnished it with roasted pumpkin seeds and cabbage. Honestly, it was the best squash soup I’ve had.

This is my attempt to recreate it. I have to admit, it came out much better then I ever expected. The seeds add a great texture and the soup has that wonderful squash creamy texture without adding any extra cream. What a great way to start a meal.

Ingredients

1 small acorn squash
1 medium butternut squash (Need helping cutting? click here!)
1 medium red apple
2 cans or about 2 cups of your favorite vegetable OR chicken broth
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin powder
⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground ginger
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 bay leaves
Kosher salt
Parsley for garnish

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cut both squashes in half scrapping out and saving the seeds.

Core the apple. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Lay the squash flesh side down, place the apple and bake for 45 minutes to an hour.

While the squash is baking, clean the pulp from the seeds, rinse them and allow them to dry on a paper towel.

Remove the squash from the oven and let cool for a few minutes.

While the squash is cooling line another cookie sheet with aluminum, foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Lay the seeds out and sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake for about 10-15 minutes until toasted.

While the seeds are toasting, add the squash, spices and broth to the blender. You are going to have to do about 3 ‘batches’ as it’s a lot of soup.

Start with the spices, half the acorn and butternut squash , keep adding broth until well blended and spices are all grinded. Then pour about half out into a pot over low heat, add more squash and blend with additional broth. Keep repeating this process until you are out of squash and both. When finished, mix well in the pot.

Continue to simmer until ready to serve

Place two ladlefuls, about 1 cup in a bowl and sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon of the toasted seeds and a pinch of dried parsley.

📖 Recipe