Butternut-Walnut Soup with Walnut-Parsley Pesto

From Gillian McLennan
Serves 10

Here’s another great recipe from January. What with the walnuts and the nutmeg and the squash, it’s got the nutty, earthy flavors of midwinter busting out all over. Gillian wrote the recipe up in more detail on her own blog, Eat My Words — and I have shamelessly stolen this photo from her as well.

Ingredients
5 cups vegetable broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 butternut squash, cut into cubes
3/4 cup walnuts
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Chop the butternut squash and place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Toss in 1 tablespoon olive oil and cover with another sheet of aluminum foil. Let roast in the oven until tender, about 30 minutes.

Once the squash is done, chop the onion and warm the oil on medium heat in a medium-sized stock pot. Add onion and saute until translucent, about 7 minutes. Add garlic and cook one minute longer.

Add broth, then squash and walnuts. Once the broth is boiling, lower the heat to medium-low and cover. Let simmer until the walnuts are soft, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the parsley.

Transfer the soup into a blender. Do not fill the blender more than 2/3 the way full. If you do, the soup will go everywhere when you turn on the blender. This may mean you will need to blend it in batches. For this recipe I did three batches in the blender. You want this to be a very creamy, smooth consistency, so start the blender on low and slowly work your way up to high.

Once all the soup is blended, pour it back into the pot and add the milk, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

Parsley-Walnut Pesto

Ingredients
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
1/2 cup walnuts
3/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation
Put everything in a food processor and blend for about 30 seconds. Stir and then pulse several times until everything is incorporated and it is close to a paste but still with small pieces of walnuts (similar to traditional basil pesto).

Spoon one tablespoon pesto on top of each bowl of soup, then EAT!