Celebrating the End of Gardening Season: Butternut Squash Soup

By Louise Polli

This is a won­der­ful soup that uses two of our area’s best local prod­ucts, apples and maple syrup. Enjoy!

Heat your oven to 375 degrees. Peel 3 lbs. of but­ter­nut squash and cut into 1” cubes. (You could also try sweet pota­toes or pump­kin for a dif­fer­ent ver­sion of this soup.) Bake until the cubes are soft­ened, about 45 minutes.

Anne Don­nel­ly shared her easy-peasy” method for cook­ing squash: cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and place the halves cut-side down in a bak­ing pan in a 350-degree oven. Cook until soft and then cool. Use the squash in this recipe or store any extra in plas­tic bags for anoth­er meal or anoth­er recipe. If you pre­fer less knife work, you may favor this alternative.

In a large pot or Dutch oven, sauté:

  • 1 table­spoon olive oil
  • 1 sweet onion, diced
  • 1 stalk cel­ery, diced
  • 1 apple, diced

When the veg­eta­bles are soft­ened, add the squash to the pot. Then add:

  • 6 cups of water (you can sub­sti­tute chick­en or veg­etable broth for some or all of the water, if you like)
  • 1 tea­spoon salt
  • ½ tea­spoon pepper
  • ½ to 1 tea­spoon cin­na­mon, to taste
  • 1 table­spoon real maple syrup

Sim­mer for 20 min­utes. Purée in a blender or food proces­sor. If you have an immer­sion blender, you can com­plete this last step right in the pot and be on your way to the table with less clean-up afterwards.


Winter 2017

Volume 35 , Number 1

Share this

The Latest from Landis

Mar 14, 2023

Picturing Landis through the year

Scenic Landis Arboretum just begs to be captured by photographers, professionals and amateurs alike. Enjoy... read more

Mar 14, 2023

2022 Annual Report

View or Download read more

Mar 14, 2023 | Nolan Marciniec

Re-thinking Garden Pests

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything... read more

Mar 14, 2023 | Fred Lape, founder of the George Landis Arboretum

Barn Swallows

In this poem, Arboretum founder Fred Lape calls our attention to the “commonplace” miracle of... read more

Mar 14, 2023 | Anita Sanchez

Things Are Looking Up

Tree canopy -- Anita Sanchez Long ago I worked at a nature center, leading walks... read more

Mar 14, 2023 | Laurie Freeman

S-L-O-W Birding: A Primer for Beginners

Are you considering birding? Perhaps you’ve heard that birding is a great way to enjoy... read more

News Archive