Martha Stewart's Butternut Squash Soup Gets A Classy Twist From One Key Ingredient

Butternut squash soup is one of those dishes made for cold nights, with a warm aroma and an even more comforting taste at the dinner table. It's also one of those dishes that can taste a little different each time it is made, showcasing different sets spicy, herbal, or sweeter notes depending on the chef. Simple and nutty, roasted butternut squash soup has a cozy element, but Martha Stewart's recipe takes butternut squash soup to the next level using apples as a sweet secret ingredient. And you don't have to have just gone apple picking to infuse your house with the scent of autumn (though it's a good way to use up all those apples). You really can use any kind of apples for the recipe, choosing specific varieties based on what kind of flavors you want to highlight.

Martha adds two red or golden apples for every pound of peeled butternut squash to start out her soup. Other recipes use the tart Granny Smith apples for an even stronger contrast to the squash. Martha Stewart cooks her butternut squash in a sauce pan with sauteed onion. After the squash has softened a bit, she adds apple chunks and other ingredients. After everything has cooked for a bit, she puts it in a blender and mixes everything until it's smooth. Then, it goes back in the pan. You could also roast the apples and butternut squash before combining it with other ingredients like a variety of fresh or dried herbs, to get an extra layer of flavor.

The sweetness of even the tartest apples brighten up the earthy foundation of butternut squash in the soup. And that earthy, bland, creamy foundation is perfect for playing with flavors. You can complement the apple-squash combination with any other of the standard ingredients like onion and garlic or rosemary and sage. Or, try a few other ingredients known to be perfect apple pairings, like fennel and ginger — or if you're feeling spicy, horseradish or rhubarb. Choose your apples based on what other ingredients you've added to your soup and you'll find a combo that's both sweet and savory, tart and earthy. Add another kind of bright, zesty burst with some citrus in your butternut squash soup.

Marth Stewart uses cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper, and ginger to season her soup, and there are many other spices and seasonings you can add to make it your own. Ina Garten uses curry powder as a delightful addition to her apple butternut squash soup, for instance. You can use any or all of those ingredients, as well black pepper and sea salt and garden herbs like thyme as well as warming spices like nutmeg to add some depth. Garnish with sour cream and finely diced apples and jalapeños, bacon bits and chopped green onion, or a coconut milk swirl.