Zuppa di Zucca (Roasted Butternut Squash soup)

After visiting the farmers market last week, and accruing some beautiful varieties of squash (including an avocado squash), i started to brainstorm some recipes. The butternut squash i picked up was decent size and i immediately thought, soup. The weather was beginning to cool and i thought this would be a perfect time to whip up some homemade vegetable stock and get my Zuppa di Zucca on.
Here's how it all went down....

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash
1 quart of vegetable stock (save your trimmings and make you own, if possible)
2 small potatoes (rough dice)
2 carrots (small dice)
2 celery stalks (small dice)
1 small onion (small dice)
3 cloves of garlic
1 cup of coconut cream (or coconut milk)
i medium apple (peeled, cored and diced)
4 T of butter or Smart Balance
1 T of olive oil
1 bay leaf

Roasting marinade:
3 T of butter
2 T of molasses
1 T sugar
1 T grated ginger
1 t cinnamon
salt and pepper

Garnish:
mascarpone cheese
temeph bacon
parsley sprig
cooked apple

preheat oven to 400 degrees.
peel and chop (scoop out the seeds) the squash into large chuncks.
melt 2 T of butter in a pan. once butter has foamed, turn off the heat and add molasses, sugar, ginger and cinnamon to the pan. mix the marinade with the squash in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and roast for 45 minutes.

In a soup pot, heat olive oil and 2 T of butter. Sauté mirepoix (onion, carrot and celery) for 15 min or till soft and slightly browned. add garlic and potato and cook another 5 min. add vegetable stock and bay leaf. bring to a boil and simmer till potato is fork tender...about 20 min.

in a small sauté pan, melt 2T of butter and cook diced apple till they start to caramelize. remove 2/3 of the apple from the pan and add tempeh bacon to cook an additional few minutes. removed from heat

remove cooked squash from oven and add to the pot along with the coconut cream and 2/3 of cooked apple. cook an additional 5-10 min on medium heat. remove bay leaf.

using an immersion blender or food processor (blended in batches). blend soup to a creamy and thick consistency. season with white (or black) pepper and coarse salt to taste.

ladle soup into a bowl and garnish with a dollop of mascarpone cheese in the center of the bowl. Sprinkle remaining apple and tempeh bacon throughout and a sprig of parsley for color.

Bon Appetit!