Butternut Squash Lentil Kale Soup

Dear readers,

I hope you are enjoying the onset of autumn and the changing of the seasons. Fall always makes me think of family and gathering with the ones that you hold close to your heart, changing leaves, hot chocolate, sweaters… but mostly food. Food tends to be so much better in the fall time, and the best part about feasting with your friends and family is that people don’t hold back. It’s a time of year that everyone brings their delicious creations together and having seconds is highly encouraged.

Lately, I have been all about experimenting with fall flavors and finding ways to get creative with squash. It’s a lot more exciting than it sounds, but keep in mind, this statement is coming from someone who has never cooked a butternut squash. Since the temperatures are finally falling in Los Angeles, soup has been at the top of my cooking list and I’m excited to share my Butternut squash kale lentil soup recipe with you.

When I decided to take on butternut squash as my first soup recipe, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It ended up being slightly more challenging than I had anticipated, but hopefully you can learn from my experience.

Autumn Butternut Squash Lentil Kale Soup

1 butternut squash (roasted and pureed)

• Curry to season
• Grapeseed oil

1 package of prepared lentils (I used the Trader Joe’s lentils)

1 onion (diced)

1 shallot (diced)

5 cloves of garlic (chopped)

Vegetable broth (32 oz)

1 package of mushrooms (wiped clean and sliced)

2 Bay leaves

Garlic powder to season

Salt and pepper to season

So, first things first: I cut the ends of the squash off then I cut it in half lengthwise. This was most challenging part because the squash was much harder than I thought. But I have read on other blogs that you can put the squash in the microwave for 2 minutes to soften it before cutting into it.

Once the squash is cut and seeded, I decided to cook up the seeds in a bit of butter and curry.  It was delicious, and I highly recommend that you do the same.

I covered the inside of the squash in oil and curry powder and roasted it in the oven with the inside facing up. I cooked them until they were soft, tender, and caramelized, approximately an hour and a half.

While they were cooking, I sautéed my onion, garlic and shallots in my Chamba, and then added the vegetable broth, seasoning (bay leaf, garlic, salt and pepper) , kale, and the lentils.

Once the squash cooled I put them in my food processor with enough broth or water to puree the squash. I added in the pureed butternut squash to the Chamba and seasoned with salt and pepper

Finally, I added in the sliced mushrooms and kale, waited until they were mostly cooked, and then served. I topped it all off with pepper jack cheese.

The recipe itself is somewhat time intensive because it takes a while to roast the squash, but I cooked two squash and froze about half of it for a future use. Next time this soup will take less than 15 minutes to make!

I hope this soup keep you warm in the cool weather.

Happy fall to you all!