Gluten Free Vegan Butternut Squash Soup - The Thai Style

Hello Folks,

Happy Valentine's Day! Have I got the recipe for you! My husband took me to this wonderful Thai restaurant for brunch this Sunday as part of my Valentine's day present and I had the most interesting butternut squash soup. It was very smooth and a little spicy. After finishing it, I was wondering what was in it. And as I suspected, it had some hot peppers and lemongrass. I was also pretty sure I tasted ginger. Guess what?! When I got home on Monday, I realized that I was craving this soup and wanted to make it myself. It turned out to be very good, so I hope you will like it.

Ingredients:
~ 1.5 pounds of butternut squash, chopped into less than an inch cubes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
Grapeseed oil
1 onion, diced
1 lemongrass, cleaned, bash a little, and cut into 3 inch sticks
1 tbsp of grated ginger
1-2 tbs of gluten free Thai Kitchen red curry paste (if you don't like it too spicy, add 1 tbsp, it will give it just enough heat; taste the soup later, you can always add more) http://www.thaikitchen.com/products/sauces-and-pastes/red-curry-paste.aspx
1 can of coconut milk (I saved 5 tbsp of coconut milk for decoration, but that is your call)
couple of thin slices of red chili pepper (optional)

Cut the butternut squash into cubes. Mix everything with just enough grapeseed oil to coat the cubes, add salt, lemon pepper, and place in the oven at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. While the butternut squash is cooking, dice the onion and prepare the lemongrass. When the butternut squash cooks for 25 minutes, heat a medium sized pot, add the onion, lemongrass, and ginger and cook for 5 minutes, mixing everything. After, add 2-3 tbsp of red curry paste, mix everything and while that is cooking for about a minute or so, start adding your butternut squash to the pot. Pour 3 cups of vegetable stock and the coconut milk afterwards. Mix everything together, lower the heat and let everything cook on low for 5-10 minutes. After that, remember to remove and discard the lemongrass.

Since I don't have the most powerful blender, I pureer my soup in batches. Just remember to be careful if you are pureeing the soup while it is still hot. When ready to eat your creation, pour the soup in the bowl, and drizzle some coconut milk on top, if desired. I had red chili in the fridge, so I added several thingly slices circles on top as well.

Enjoy! It will warm up your senses! :)
Cheers,
Sasha