The most classic fall dish with a deliciously fall twist!
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cover a baking sheet in tin foil.
Cut a butternut squash in half, long ways. Lay both halves face up on your baking sheet. Cover with olive oil. Sprinkle with a touch of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom*. Place in the oven for about 50 minutes.
Meanwhile, peel and chop your carrot, onion, and celery. Throw them in the bottom of a large soup pot with the olive oil, cinnamon, allspice, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, salt, pepper, minced sage, and bay leaves. Sauté on medium-low heat until the carrots are tender.
Remove the squash from the oven. Let cool slightly. Scoop out the flesh of the squash and add it into the pot with the sautéed veggies. The squash will be in lumps, don't worry about that at this point. Stir.
Add in 5 cups of chicken stock. Stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat immediately and let simmer for about 15 minutes
While the vegetables are simmering, brown the butter. Place the 3 tablespoons of butter into a sauce pan and turn the heat to medium-high. Add in the 3 sage leaves as well.
Allow the butter to cook slowly until the milk fats turn brown. Remove the butter from the heat immediately when you see browning and set aside. Remove the sage leaves.
Once the veggies have simmered, turn off the heat and let cool for about 10 minutes.
Remove the two bay leaves from your soup.
OPTION 1: Using an immersion blender, slowly blend the broth, vegetables, remaining seasonings, and squash until they are fully smooth. This takes about 7 minutes. Make sure to stir the soup to make sure you didn't miss any clumps.
*DO NOT use an immersion blender directly after taking the soup off the heat! These blenders can create some splashes and splatters. You don't want to get scalded with hot soup while blending.
OPTION 2: Using a stand blender, pour the vegetables, squash, and broth into the blender in batches and blend until smooth. Add a bit from your 1/3 cup of cream to each batch until finished. Add any remaining cream to the last batch and stir all batches back together in the original pot.
Once your soup is smooth, pour in the 1/3 cup cream (if you used an immersion blender) and your browned butter.
Stir or use your immersion blender to combine all the final ingredients.
Serve in individual bowls topped with squash seeds, sprinkled cream, a dash of nutmeg, and some sage leaves.