Squash was never one of my favorite vegetables as a kid. It was usually boiled to death and splatted on my plate as a runny gooey mess. As an adult, I tried the Common Man’s squash with butter and cinnamon and ohhhh my. Suddenly squash had potential. Later, I visited Canterbury Shaker Village and found Squash bread, a bread that is soft and moist with a slight sweetness too it. Yeah, squash is definitely moving up in my levels of culinary appreciation.

Mmmmmmm Soup
Those two delights involve the sweeter side of squash, but it has a savory side too and that my friends is best experienced in roasted squash soup. Susan Nye, from Around the Table with Susan Nye, created my preferred recipe. You can download the newsletter that includes a funny background on squash and pumpkins as well as the recipe from Susan’s web site

The recipe is easy and the results are hearty and tasty. You place the squash and other veggies in a roasting pan with spices and balsamic vinegar and pop it in the oven. When it is almost done, a little wine is added. The squash is pureed (I used a blender) and simmered with chicken broth. The result is a soup that is flavorful and warming. It melts on my tongue. My favorite part? It freezes beautifully; I freeze it in both large and single servings and serve it as an appetizer or reheat it for lunch or a quick snack. This soup is a yummy way to get your vegetables.

I first met Susan through a now defunct email list. In her own words, she is a “food writer, entrepreneur and cook… a corporate dropout, I left a twenty-year career in international sales and marketing for the fun, flexibility and fear of self-employment.”

She offers private chef and catering services as well as cooking classes. Susan is a prolific writer, she blogs, and writes for numerous publications. She is a regular on WMUR’s Cook’s Corner (see past visits on YouTube) and she is also chair of the Board of Directors for the Women’s Business Center in Portsmouth (they are a post unto themselves!). You can find more of her recipes and her wonderful stories on her web site http://www.susannye.com/. If you want regular culinary inspiration or just a new idea for dinner, I highly recommend following her on Twitter too, @SusanNye

Soup, soup for you!!