Ah, it's still cold and gray. So, combining my need for beauty with my need for warmth, I decided to use the beautiful, locally-grown apples Jedd found recently in a soup along with a leftover Butternut squash. And what would make the soup even more gorgeous? Some curry and some chili powder.

The soup was sweet, spicy hot and pretty. There's not a whole lot more you can ask of a February meal.

Curried Apple Squash Soup

2 Cortland apples

1 Butternut squash

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 large red onion, diced

¼ cup of white wine or apple juice

4 cups of chicken stock (Or vegetable stock if you want to make it vegetarian.)

1 ½ tablespoons of curry powder

1 teaspoon of chili powder

1 teaspoon of cayenne

Greek or plain yogurt (for garnish)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Split the squash down the middle, and remove the seeds and membranes. Half the apples and remove the seeds. Place the squash and apples skin-side down on a large rimmed sheet pan covered with aluminum foil. Drizzle the squash and apples with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake the apples for 20 minutes or until soft. Bake the squash for another 20 minutes or until soft. Let the squash and apples cool.

In a large saucepan, cook the diced onion along with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When the onion is soft, remove the pan from the heat and add the wine. Return the pan to the heat and add the chicken broth, chili powder, curry powder and cayenne. Scoop the meat out of the apples and squash and stir into the chicken broth. Let the soup simmer for 20 minutes. Turn the heat off the soup and let cool for at least 15 minutes. Add the soup to a blender and puree until you reach the desired consistency, or use an emulsifier in the soup pot.

Serves 4.

(Top photo by Launie Kettler, bottom photo by Jedd Kettler)