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Roasted Butternut Apple Soup with Pomegranate Gremolata
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: About 9 cups / 2 L 1x
Ingredients
Scale
For the butternut apple soup:
- 1 large butternut squash, about 3 lbs / 1.36 kg (to yield about 2 1/2 lbs / 1.1 kg butternut)
- 1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut into 8 wedges
- 3 medium apples, cored & cut into 8 wedges
- 8 cloves of garlic, peeled and whole
- 3 tbsp / 45 ml avocado oil
- 5 cups / 1200 ml chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 tbsp / 15 g fresh minced ginger OR 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp / 3 g ground turmeric
For the pomegranate gremolata:
- 2/3 cup loosely packed / 20 g of flat leaf parsley
- 1 clove of garlic
- Zest of 2 lemons, unwaxed if you can find them
- 1/2 cup / 85 g pomegranate arils
Optional garnishes:
- Splash of extra virgin olive oil
- Drizzle of infused lemon olive oil
- Swirl of coconut cream
- Few grinds of fresh cracked rainbow peppercorns (omit for AIP)
Instructions
- PREP: Preheat the oven to 400 F / 205 C. Slice off the top and bottom of the butternut squash and discard the rind. Cut the butternut squash into two pieces between the bulb and the thinner upper “neck” section. Cut each section in half lengthwise so that you have four pieces total. Scoop out and discard the butternut squash seeds. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the thin outer skin of the butternut squash. Cut the butternut pieces into about 4 even slices, then each slice into four or five pieces, to give you roughly 1 inch / 2.5 cm chunks.
- ROAST: Divide the butternut squash, onion, apples and garlic evenly between two half sheet baking trays. Drizzle the fruit and vegetables with the avocado oil and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Roast the vegetables until the butternut squash is just fork tender, about 30 minutes.
- SIMMER: Transfer the fruit and vegetables to a large 6.5 quart Dutch oven on the stove top over medium heat. Add the broth, ginger and turmeric. Bring to a simmer and cook until heated through and the flavors have mellowed together, about 15 minutes.
- MIX: While the soup is simmering, make the pomegranate gremolata. Finely chop the parsley, peel and mince the garlic and zest the lemons. Transfer those ingredients to a small mixing bowl and add the pomegranate arils. Use a spoon to gently combine all the ingredients and set aside for later.
- BLEND: Taste and add additional seasoning, if you like. Either use an immersion blender right there in the Dutch oven, or, working in batches, transfer the soup to a blender and blend the soup until completely smooth.
- SERVE: Divide the soup between bowls and top with some of the pomegranate gremolata. If you like, garnish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, infused lemon olive oil or coconut cream, along with a few grinds of black pepper.
Notes
One last thing: ground turmeric stains the hell out of a Vitamix pitcher. I only just discovered this, because I’ve only recently swapped over to a Vitamix blender from my old-and-trusty inexpensive Ninja blender. For whatever reason, I could leave turmeric spiked soups or smoothies in the Ninja for ages without staining.
But the Vitamix pitcher stains like a mofo in minutes. So you can either blend up the soup right in the Dutch oven with an immersion blender, OR blend the soup together without the turmeric in the Vitamix. Then you’ll have to return the soup to the pan, add the ground turmeric and give it a a good stir until the soup combines nicely.