Roasted Acorn Squash Soup with Fried Sage

It smells like the holidays and tastes like Christmas. I loved it. I found it really hard to wait until the squash was done to start the sage. Have patience. The squash is much easier to scoop when cooler. The original recipe called for adding parmesan but I liked it much better without it. You can add it as a topping if you wish or use nutritional yeast if you are of the non-dairy persuasion.

Ingredients:

Butter or substitute for roasting and sautéing (I used lactose-free butter)

Several large sage leaves

3 acorn squash halved

2 onions diced

4-6 cloves of garlic

3-5 carrots chopped for sauté

Several sprigs of thyme tied into a bundle

1 bay leaf

2 tsp of fresh rosemary chopped fine

8 cups of stock (chicken, or vegetable works best.)

2 cups cream or substitute (I used Almond and cashew milk)

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

On a sheet pan lined with parchment, put all six halves skin side down and coat butter (or substitute, I used lactose free butter), salt and pepper. Roast them in a 400F oven for 40-50 minutes.

Once they are out of the oven and resting, start a large pot on the stove and begin heating the butter (or sub). Once hot, add sage leaves one at a time into the oil. Flip them with tongs and once they seem crispy (stiff and darker), remove them and place them on a paper towel to dry.

Add onion, garlic and carrot. Add more butter if necessary. Sauté until soft.

Add stock, roasted squash insides, thyme bundle, rosemary and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce to low and simmer for half an hour.

Remove thyme bundle and bay leaf. Using an immersion blender or regular blender, blend till smooth.

Add Cream or substitute and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with sage leaves on top

Enjoy!