I don’t cook with acorn squash all that often…I don’t know why, I just don’t. I guess I go through phases with my preferred squash but for the most part I am a butternut girl or Kabocha but I can never seem to get my hands on them. I had this acorn squash given to me and decided to try roasting it a little different from how I normally would (Sliced in half and seeded) I did it in thin slices because I wanted the soup to have more of that yummy roasted flavour. I was quite happy with how it turned out and so were my dinner guests.

Serves 6

• 1 acorn squash, cut in half, seeded and then cut into 1/2 inch slices
• 1 onion, skin removed and halved
• 2 potato, cut into 1/2 inch slices
• 1 head of garlic
• 2 tsp cumin
• heavy pinch of chipotle chili powder
• pinch of cinnamon
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup whole milk or cream (leave this out if you want to keep this dish vegan)
• pepper to taste
• 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• safflower oil

Preheat the oven to 400. Cut and slice the squash, potato and onion. Toss with safflower oil and lay on baking sheet. Take the garlic and remove the excess layers of skin. Chop about 1/4 inch off the top of the bulb. Drizzle the top with a little oil then wrap in foil and place on the baking sheet. Let everything bake for 30 minutes flipping half way (obviously you do not have to flip the wrapped garlic). Once cooked, remove from the oven and let cool for a minute. Peel off the skin from the squash. In a large pot over medium heat, add the spices and stir them around for about 1 minute. Add the broth, squash, potato, onion and the roasted cloves of garlic. Now using an immersion blender, pulse everything until smooth. Add the chickpeas and give a few more quick pulses with the blender, making sure to not fully blend all the chickpeas. Allow to simmer for a few minutes then stir in the cider vinegar and lemon juice. Remove from heat and add the cream. At this point do a final taste test and see if you think it needs a little more salt or pepper, if so sprinkle it in then serve topped with some fresh parsley. Enjoy!