Butternut Squash-Apple Soup with Sizzled Sage

Recipe from: This Immeasurable Place, by Blake Spalding and Jennifer Castle.

Sage Leaves:
1 tablespoon butter
10 - 12 fresh sage leaves

Soup:
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup onion or leeks, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 cup apples, peeled and chunked
1/4 cup carrot, diced
1 tablespoon salt
1 whole clove
1 cinnamon stick, broken
1 star anise pod
Pinch of Chile flakes
3 juniper berries
5 black peppercorns
3 cups butternut squash, peeled and chopped
4 cups water
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped

To sizzle your sage leaves, heat the butter in a small frying pan over medium heat. Sauté the sage in the butter for 20- 30 seconds. Place the sage leaves on a plate lined with a paper towel.

Sauté the butter, onion, celery, apples, carrots and salt in a heavy bottomed soup pot for 15 minutes over medium heat, until soft. Put your clove, cinnamon stick, star anise, Chile flakes, juniper berries, and peppercorns into a spice bag made with cheesecloth or a coffee filter, securely tied. Add the pumpkin, water and spice bag, and cook, covered, on medium low heat for 30 minutes. Then add the heavy cream, turn the heat to low and summer for 45 more minutes.

Remove from the heat and add the coriander, apple cider vinegar and chopped sage. Let the soup cool, remove the spice bag, and purée with an immersion blender or in a blender in batches. Top with the sizzled sage to serve.