This is a savory & delicious soup with a hint of sweet for those cold winter nights. One sip and you will be hooked! One of my family favorites. Call the kids, soups on!

Tips: Keep soup on a low simmer.  Use only a good quality extra virgin olive oil and chicken stock.  It will make or break your soup.  To test your olive oil, dip some bread in it.  If there is no aftertaste, you may use it in your soup.

Here are the directions:

Use a large pot, one you plan on cooking your soup in.  Start by sautéing the diced shallots.  Drizzle a small amount of extra virgin olive oil in the pan and add some sea salt. You may also add 1 tablespoon of salted butter for a nice flavor base. Add about six fresh sage leaves.  The sage will infuse an amazing flavor base into your soup.  Next, cook the onions until translucent. Discard the sage leaves!

In the meantime, fill a pot up with water and add the diced squash.  Let this cook roughly 10 minutes or until tender, then drain into a colander.

Note: most supermarkets will have cubed butternut squash available especially in the Fall season. Otherwise, use extra caution if cutting squash into cubes. Another alternative is to roast the squash at 400 degrees until softened. Pierce with a fork first, then roast.

Put the squash into the pot with the onions and mix them together.  Let them cook about 5 minutes.

In the meantime, cook a large yam or sweet potato in the microwave until a fork tender.  Let it cool and handle with oven mitts! Scoop out all of the potato and measure about 1 cup.

Then add the squash and shallots along with a few drizzles of chicken stock into a large high-speed blender (mine holds about 6 cups), otherwise do it in stages. Mix until the ingredients are puréed and no lumps are present. Then add the sweet potato and blend lend until smooth.

Transfer the butternut squash-sweet potato purée back into the large pot and add more chicken stock.  I will typically use ¾ of a 48-ounce container.  As the soup thickens, you will add more, so keep it on hand. Refrigerate leftovers for the next day.

Next, add a few sprigs of thyme, you may take this out after 1 hour or so. The leaves will fall off and you will take out the stems. Add salt and pepper to taste and a drizzle of olive oil.

Simmer on low heat for about 1 hour, and serve with warm Italian bread.  There is a delicious recipe for homemade Italian bread in my cookbook, Food That Will Gather Your family.

As a garnish, you may sauté more sage leaves and add them on the top of your soup for a visually appealing bowl of heartwarming soup, make crispy croutons from day-old bread, or add some salted pumpkin seeds.  Any leftovers seal in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

*If you are a vegetarian you can swap out the chicken stock for vegetable broth.

I hope you enjoy!