This soup recipe is a little time consuming just because of the cutting and pre-roasting of the squash, but once that's done it definitely speeds up..

The roasting concentrates the flavor and gives the squash this amazing taste that's well worth the wait..

I find this one of the toughest soups to photograph as there is little variation in color or texture unless you garnish it just right—still just tends to look orange but she's got it where it counts, and that's in taste..

This is one of my Baby's favorite soups that I make here at home; sweet, savory, cinnamon spicy and oh so good..

Definitely worth making at home, especially now that Summer is coming to close and Fall is fast approaching us..

(Just looks so pretty as a starter before thanksgiving or any dinner during those fall months)

Though in this house, regardless of the time of year, this soup is a guaranteed to be a hit..

Try it out for yourself and your family; I think you'll find that it is, without a doubt, "Definitely Delish"

"Roasted Butternut Squash Soup"

Ingredients:
4 pounds Butternut Squash Cubes
3 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
1 Green Apple
1/2 Sweet Vidalia Onion
8 fresh Sage leaves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Sugar in the raw (turbinado sugar)
2 1/2 cups low sodium Chicken broth(see notes)
1 cup Apple Cider
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon each of Allspice and Nutmeg
1/3 cup Heavy Cream
Garnish-see Note below

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 425 degrees and arrange rack in middle..
2. Line a baking sheet with foil and fill with cut squash. Then melt 2 tablespoons of butter and brush it over top the squash pieces and then sprinkle with sugar..
3. Season with sea salt and pepper, then roast till knife tender-about 50 minutes to 1 hour approximately..
4. Meanwhile; peel, core and cut the apple into a medium dice. Follow by cutting the onion half into a medium dice as well. Then melt the remaining butter on medium heat in a deep pot, or dutch oven, large enough to hold several quarts of soup..
5. Add the apple, onion, and sage to the pot and season with salt and pepper-then cook, stirring occasionally, until softened. About 7 minutes..
6. Remove the pan from heat and set aside till squash is don in the oven..
7. When the squash is done, add it to the pot with the sauteed apples and onions; then add the broth, cider, cinnamon, spices and water to the pot. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat..
8. Reduce the heat to medium low, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally and adjust heat if necessary..
9. Remove the pot from heat and stir in the heavy cream; now with an immersion blender, puree the soup inside of the pot. (You could also use a regular blender and puree in batches but I find the immersion blender saves on time and clean up)
10. Taste and season with salt, pepper or cinnamon as needed to achieve the desired taste..

Notes:
1. You can leave it slightly chunky if you prefer it that way. Also, you can garnish it with toasted pumpkin seeds, apple slices, dollops of goat cheese (I prefer honeyed goat cheese for this) or a few dashes of cinnamon - or even a mix of all of these..
2. Substitute the chicken broth with a light vegetable stock, Coconut cream (or cream substitute) for the heavy cream and use your preferred butter substitute (margarine, oil, etc) for butter to make this a Vegan or Vegetarian friendly dish..

Last night, as is my usual modus operandi, I decided to mess around in the kitchen...

Now it's not every day that I make a new dish, and a lot of times I'll make the same thing again and again-because, well, it's good an I liked it enough too...

Sometimes, if I'm trying something different with a dish I've done before, I might post it-like with the Caramelized Apple Almond Galette recently...

But mostly this week I've been doing various dishes that I've done plenty before-like last nights Lemon Chicken de Provence...

Though for a tasty visual treat I did decide to make for me and my Beautiful baby last night a "Vegetable Rose Tart" with a fresh mozzarella and herb'ed cream base.
Slicing up my Zucchini, Squash and Carrots with a vegetable peeler; I began wrapping them into my Roses...

Then inside the tart pan filled with puff pastry I added my mozzarella, sour cream and some fresh herbs-followed by all of my beautiful Roses...

*"Roasted vegetables almost to pretty to eat"*

Drizzled a little olive oil, with chopped fresh herbs and garlic, over top it to finish-then into the oven to bake...

Finally while it was cooking, I played around with setting up for the picture; which I got done just as it finished baking...

A couple of pretty pics later and it was finally time to dig in and eat..

Such a beautiful dish in it's presentation and oh so—"Definitely Delish"

"Vegetable Rose Tart"

Ingredients:
For Pastry Shell:
1 package Dufour all butter Puff Pastry (or your own puff pastry recipe)

For the Filling:
1/2 cup fresh Mozzarella
1/2 Sour Cream
1 tsp Sea salt
1 clove minced garlic
Fresh cracked Pepper to taste
1 tsp mixed Herbes de Provence (2 tsps if using fresh Herbes instead of dry)

For the Vegetable Roses:
1-2 medium Zucchinis
1-2 medium Yellow Squash's
2-4 Carrots (purple and other carrot colors if available)
Quality Olive Oil
1 clove minced garlic
1 tablespoon Fresh thyme and parsley, finely chopped
Sea salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
For the tart shell:
1. Lightly grease a 8-9 inch loose base tart tin.
2. Roll the pastry out until you have a circle approximately 11 inches and lay it over the tart tin and press into the sides. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Scrunch up a piece of baking paper and open it back up. Place on the tart shell and fill with baking beads.
4. Place in the preheated oven and cook for 10-15 minutes. Remove the beads and cook for a further 5-10 minutes until the base is cooked through.
5. Set aside to cool.

For the filling:
1. Chop the mozzarella into small pieces and place in a bowl.
2. Add the sour cream, garlic and mixed herbs then stir until combined.
3. Spread the filling over the base of the tart shell.

For the vegetable Roses:
1. Slice the vegetables into 1/8 inch or thinner slices. (Strips)
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. On a chopping board, start with a piece of carrot and begin rolling it into a tight curl. Then wrap the Carrot with a piece of Zucchini and then a piece of Yellow Squash. Roll together the 3 vegetables into a rose shape. Place into prepared Tart shell with filling.
4. Continue this process until you have filled the tart with vegetable roses of various sizes.
5. Drizzle the top lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with fresh chopped herbs, finely minced garlic, sea salt and pepper.
6. Transfer the tart into the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked and lightly golden. (Alternatively, you could partially pre-roast the vegetable strips before rolling into roses-adjust cooking time accordingly)
7. Serve with a salad for a main course or as a side dish with a main entree of your choice...