I have a very big soft spot for creamy autumn root vegetable soups of every kind. Here are a number of quick and easy butternut squash soups that you can prepare from scratch on a stove top in 20 minutes or so and that will definitely warm you up as the nights get chilly.

Note, you can substitute, acorn or other mild squashes pretty much interchangeably for the butternut as called for. It will taste a bit different, but it will still be good. These soups can be made wither with canned chicken stock (or vegetable stock) but will taste much better with homemade stock.

Creamy Butternut Squash Soup (Serves 4)

• About 3 cups of butternut squash, peeled and cut into inch cubes
• 1 Tbls of butter
• 1 medium cooking onion, chopped
• Enough chicken stock to cover
• A little light cream or whole milk
• A pinch of ground cloves
• Salt and pepper

1. In a sauce pan, heat the butter over medium and then sauté the onions stirring, until softened but not browned, about 5 minutes
2. Add in the squash chunks and the stock, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat so that the soup stays at a gentle simmer and then cook for about 15 minutes, or until the squash has softened completely.
3. Transfer the contents of the pot to a blender and puree until smooth (you’ll probably need to do this in batches – to avoid the dreaded hot-soup blender-volcano!)
4. Add in a healthy glug of light cream, a pinch of cloves and salt and pepper to taste; adding more salt as necessary and also more cloves if desired. Be careful with the cloves though, it’s easy to add too much and an overpoweringly clovey soup isn’t what you want.

This soup is so easy, so homey and so good, and this very basic recipe lends itself to countless variations.

6 Squash Soup Variations

• Use nutmeg or cinnamon instead of cloves
• Try a pinch curry powder instead of cloves
• Try roasting the squash chunk first in a 400 degree oven until tender and slightly browned and then use as above, omitting the need for a lengthy boiling time (the squash is already soft)
  
• Omit the cloves and add in a spoonful of Dijon mustard and a little maple syrup to sweeten
• Omit the cloves and add in a pinch of ground cumin - try swirling in a little yogurt when serving for this variation!
• Use a little less squash and add in a little apple, potato, carrot or sweet potato to the soup, and make as directed above