Orange squash soup

After a week of nothing but squash recipe posts, it might come as a surprise to know that as a child, I loathed squash. How much of that was texture related, I don't know. But I was served that stuff that comes frozen in squares, which is what this recipe originally called for. We can do better.


Orange you glad it's Thanksgiving soup
Adapted from Rachael Ray Every Day. Yes, it's a groaner of a name. You just have to get past it and call it something else.

Ingredients
4 cups pureed squash (or 2 cans pumpkin)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, chopped small
4 carrots, finely chopped

½ cup orange juice

3 cups broth

¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg

Method
I didn't have pureed squash on hand, so I added this step at the beginning: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Split a large butternut squash in half lengthwise. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until tender. Remove peels and puree flesh in a food processor.

Melt butter and heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Add butter and carrots and cook over medium low heat until tender, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Deglaze pan with orange juice.

Transfer to a blender and puree. Add squash puree and broth. Stir in nutmeg. Heat through and adjust seasonings.

Rating: If you've precooked your squash or use canned pumpkin, this is pretty fast recipe to fix, and the orange flavor combo works.

Still not going to revisit those frozen boxes of squash.