roasted butternut squash and sweet potato bisque with smoked applewood bacon

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1 (2 pound) butternut squash - peeled, seeded, and cubed
• 1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 8 slices applewood-smoked bacon
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup white
• 1 1/2 quarts chicken stock
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Recipe

Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ready Time: 1 hr 45 mins


• preheat oven to 375 degrees f (190 degrees c).
• combine squash, sweet potatoes, olive oil, salt, and pepper together in a bowl; toss to coat. pour out a baking sheet.
• bake in the preheated oven, flipping the vegetables once, until slightly caramelized and tender, about 60 minutes.
• place bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until slightly crisp, 7 to 10 minutes. reserve 1 tablespoon bacon drippings. drain the bacon slices on paper towels; crumble bacon.
• heat bacon drippings and butter together in dutch oven over medium heat. saute onion and butter in hot butter mixture until onion is translucent, 7 to 10 minutes.
• pour the white into the pan and bring to a boil while scraping the browned bits of food off of the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. cook until white is reduced by half, 3 to 5 minutes.
• stir roasted squash mixture into onion mixture; add stock and bring to a boil. reduce heat to low and simmer until all vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.
• pour vegetable mixture into a blender no more than half full. cover and hold lid down; pulse a few times before leaving on to blend. puree in batches until smooth. return pureed soup to dutch oven.
• stir half-and-half into pureed soup; cook and stir over medium-low heat until soup is warmed through, about 5 minutes. stir nutmeg into soup; season with salt and pepper to taste. ladle into bowls and top each with crumbled bacon.