Roasted Acorn Squash Soup with Bacon

Greetings from the Land of Vikings-
Fall is all about warm comfort food, preparing us for the winter to come. This fall the Chan sisters will feature a variety of pumpkin and squash recipes ranging from soup, main course, to desserts. We hope y'all will enjoy.
I usually make my acorn squash by just roasting them in butter and brown sugar and serves as a side dish. However, this time I decided to do something different by making a soup dish. This dish will definitely open your taste pallet!

Serves 5

Ingredients:

• 5 strips of bacon (any kind on sale)
• 3-3.5lb acorn squash
• 1 onion, chopped
• olive oil
• 4-5 cloves of garlic (skin on)
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 golden delicious apple (or any on sale), cored and roughly chopped
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup evaporated milk
• 1T curry powder
• 2T brown sugar (for roasting), another 2T for mixing into soup
• a big pinch of cayenne
• a big pinch of cumin
• salt and pepper to taste
• Scallion for garnish

Direction:

- fry bacon strips in pan (w/o oil) in medium heat until crispy, then set aside on a paper towel

Roasting of Squash
- Preheat oven to 425F
- Halve squash and brush both sides with a mixture of olive oil, a little salt, and brown sugar
- Place squash cup side down and roast for 50 min
- Let squash cool until can be handled by hands
- Remove charred squash skin
- Roughly chop squash into pieces

Making into the soup part

- In a medium pot, sautee onion, celery, and apple until tender
- Then add curry powder, cayenne, cumin, salt and pepper 
- Add squash into the pot and stir thoroughly
- Transfer squash mixture into blender and puree it
- In the same medium pot, heat 1 cup of chicken broth
- Transfer the squash puree back into the warm broth and mix
- Just before boiling, add evaporated milk (boiling of soup will curdle the milk)
- Serve immediately with crumbled crispy bacon and chopped scallions

Viol la!