Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

There is only one thing I like about the fall. Fall, to me, means it is the beginning of soup season. yes, to me, soup has a season and it officially began two weeks ago. Squash and pumpkin started to come up in the farmers markets, which to me makes an excellent reason to get one and make a thick soup. This soup can be served as an appetizer, or as a larger portion as a meal on its own to warm you up from the cold weather approaching.





Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

1 large butternut squash
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
Enough water (or veg. broth) to cover squash
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cut the ends off of the squash, cut the entire squash right down the center and using a spoon or ice cream scoop, take out all of the seeds. Coat the cut side of the squash with some olive oil and place the squash cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a sharp knife can easily penetrate the squash skin.

Just before the squash is ready, put a little olive oil in a large hot pot and sweat the onions, celery and carrots until the onions are clear, about 5-8 minutes.

Take the squash and peel off the skin and give it a rough dice, to cut it into smaller pieces. Peeling squash can be done in a few ways, if it was cooked long enough, the skin should peel right off when you pull on it. If it doesn't, I like to use a knife or peeler and cut/peel it. Add in the chunks of squash and apple into the onion mixture and cover it with water or broth. Bring it to a boil then turn it down to simmer, cover it half way and let it simmer for about an hour.

After the hour, take the pot off the heat and blend it together. There are a few ways you can do this using either a blender, food processor or hand blender. I prefer to use a food processor because my hand blender never seems to give me a smooth enough finish with chunks visible, and since the blender exploded last time, and i got second-degree burns, I'll stick with the food processor. Blend it all together, then place back into the pot. Season with salt and pepper, let it heat back up and enjoy.

I like to serve this with a drizzle of olive oil on top and a few pieces of day old crusty bread.

Sunday morning market

There is one thing that I look forward to every week. That is getting up early on Sunday morning and going down to the market. I have tried a few markets in the area and settled on going to the Square One parking lot market every Sunday. I chose this one because of its and wide array of fresh, usually local (which I will get into more below,) produce, bread and eggs. Although this is my first year going regularly to a market the friendliness of the sellers, and them always making you feel welcome, is what will definitely keep me coming back.

My only problem with the market are the three or four stand put up by people who I don't think grow what they sell, and are just picking up cases from the food terminal. As far as I know, and correct me if I am wrong, but pineapples don't grow in Ontario. Produce at a farmers market shouldn't have stickers on them with product numbers. Signs shouldn't have to be put up that say where the produce was grown, it should be that since it is a local farmers market the produce is from Ontario, most likely from Niagara, Beamsville, Caledon area. So I think that people who set up stalls should be forced to only sell locally farmed produce, since it is the reason most people go to a farmers market, to get fresh and locally farmed produce.