Pumpkin Apple Soup for Paleos – and All Soup Lovers

With colder days and ripening pumpkins calling “buy me,” here’s a delicious savory soup. Make it with pumpkin or any hard-shell winter squash. Add a cabbage salad, kale chips and a vegetable sauté, you have a whole meal and several leftover soup servings.

Pumpkin-Apple Soup

Ingredients

4 lb pumpkin or squash, peeled, seeded, and in 2″ chunks (see tip)
4 apples, unpeeled, cored, cut in eighths
1/4 c olive oil
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 TBSP chopped fresh sage
6 c chicken broth
1/3 c chopped hazelnuts, toasted
2 TBSP hazelnut oil

Preheat oven to 450°F

Toss pumpkin and apples with olive oil, 1 tsp salt, and pepper. Spread on a large baking sheet. Roast 30 minutes, stirring once.

Stir in sage and continue roasting until very tender and starting to brown, 15 – 20 minutes more.

Purée 1/3 of the pumpkin and apples with 2 c broth. Repeat until all are puréed.

You can prepare this ahead, cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Season with remaining 1/4 tsp salt, heat through over medium-low heat for about 6 minutes, stirring constantly.

Top each portion with hazelnuts and maybe even drizzle with hazelnut oil. Or sprinkle with crisp bacon bits, other seeds (including seeds from your soup squash), or chopped fresh herbs.

Tips:

• Make it easier to cut a pumpkin, acorn squash or other winter squash: pierce several times and microwave on high for 45 – 60 seconds. Then cut in half and spoon out seeds and stringy fibers.
• To toast chopped nuts, small nuts, and seeds, place in a small dry skillet and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant and lightly browned, 2 – 4 minutes.