Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Anyone that knows me well will tell you that squash is NOT my favorite food. I have about 2 bites of it at Thanksgiving and that's it. I rarely cook with it, but one of my girlfriends brought over a couple of butternut squashes during the hurricane recently (there was nothing else to do but cook and eat). We decided to make roasted butternut squash soup since I am now the proud owner of a food processor, and it was shockingly delicious. I ate an entire bowl and have had it for lunch every day since! It is really nice as a whole meal or as a starter. My friend Kara got all fancy and served the soup with a dollop of sour cream (love) on top, and then sprinkled on craisins, scallions and sunflower seeds. It looks really pretty and was really tasty! It just so happened that I had made chicken stock the day before, so we used homemade in the recipe which I think made a lot of difference. Store bought is fine, but if you have the time like we did then it is worth it to make and use homemade. That recipe another time. If you don't have a cuisinart, the squash gets really soft so you could just use a potato masher or a blender to puree it. It is definitely smoother after a trip through the food processor but also makes a pretty big mess. Fyi.

Ingredients:
-1 butternut squash
-1 carrot, grated
-1 onion, chopped
-5 cups of chicken stock
-1 cup of apple cider
-1 tbs freshly grated nutmeg
-1 tbs curry powder
-salt and pepper to taste
-olive oil
-1/2 cup heavy cream
-sour cream, sunflower seeds, craisins, scallions for serving

Directions:
-Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast, skin side up, for 1 hour at 350 degrees. When the squash is soft, remove the skin and cut it into cubes.
-Saute the chopped onion and carrot in about 2 tbs of olive oil until the onion is translucent.
-Add the squash, chicken broth, apple cider, nutmeg and curry powder. Bring to a boil. Simmer for about 30 minutes until the vegetables are soft enough to mash or blend in a food processor.
-In 3 batches, blend the soup in a food processor or blender until it is smooth. Put back into the pot and season with salt and pepper to taste.
-Stir in the heavy cream and serve with a dollop of sour cream and the above condiments.