Butternut Squash Soup with Lavender and Sage

Butternut Squash Soup with Lavender and Sage

By Cristin McDonnell

This is a healthy fall/ winter dish.  Part of what makes this recipe healthy are the benefit that comes from cooking with high quality culinary grade lavender.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp dried lavender
6 sage leaves (or 2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked)
3 lb butternut squash (peeled and cubed)
2 carrots (chopped)
1 onion (chopped)
4 cloves of garlic (peeled and chopped)
4 1/2 cups of chicken or vegetable broth (more can be used depending on the consistency of the soup, this amount of broth makes for a very thick soup, if you would like the consistency thinner, add more broth)
1/4 cup olive oil
a pinch of salt and pepper (I used a pinch of lavender sea salt)
1/2 tspn red pepper flakes

1.) In a large saucepan or stock pot, pour in the olive oil and place on medium heat.  Once the oil has heated, add the 6 sage leaves (turning them once) and the lavender.  Fry for about 30 seconds.
2.) Add in the garlic, onion and carrots. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook the vegetables for about 10 minutes.
3.) Add the squash and stock and bring to a boil.  Then allow the soup to simmer for 30 minutes.
4.) Let the soup cool a little, then blend smooth.  You can use an immersion blender or a standard blender.
5.) Serve the soup with a nice French or Focaccia bread.

*In a small cast iron frying pan, I fried additional pieces of sage.
The sage infused oil in the frying pan was drizzled on bread and then toasted with brie on top.  A piece of the fried sage was place on top of the soup.  The dried sage was also crumbled on top of the bread. The sage infused oil was also drizzled on the soup.

This recipe was adapted from:
Chez Didier