B-nut Soup

I am no Mollie Katzen, but I do like to play in the kitchen. We are firmly in soup season, so I thought I'd offer up this recipe that I made up. All by myself...

• One butternut squash
• 3 or 4 apples (Granny Smith seem to do the best...)
• Sweet potato or two
• onion (I like the Walla Walla, but it could just be me missing Washington)
• two heads of garlic
• leek
  
• 3 or 4 cups of vegetable broth
• a half a cup of white wine (or perhaps more if you have been drinking too much prior to cooking)
  
• Half a package of cream cheese
• Fresh rosemary (or oregano)
  

The Roasting Part.
You can do this ahead of time. Even roast a whole bunch and throw it in the freezer.
Cut the butternut squash in half (lengthwise) and hollow out the seeds. Cut off the top of the head of garlic and tuck in the hollow space to roast. Lay the squash fleshy side down on the rosemary, so it absorbs some of that yummy essence. Cut the apples and sweet potatoes in half. Cut the onion in half. Put all in the roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. Cover with tin foil and bake for about an hour. You want the squash to be soft, soft. The apples will explode into softness.

The Saute Part.
Clean the leek really well. The slice it up and throw it into a pan, heated with a little olive oil. Then pour in the wine so the leek gets a little drunk in the white wine. Cook until the leek is soft and the wine has evaporated.


The Blender Part.
Scrape out the squash and sweet potato. Spoon out the apples, cutting out the core. (I suppose you could do this prior to roasting, but whatever.) Squeeze the garlic. Put the roasted veggies and the leek all in a big ol' pot. Add the veggie broth. (You can also use water.) Scoop ladle fulls into the blender. In one of your blender mixes add the cream cheese. Keep blending until the soup is smooth. Add more liquid to get your desired consistency.

Enjoy with some crusty bread and wine.

(I think that's how I do it. I have given the recipe to someone before and left all sorts of things out...)