Butternut Cashew Corn Chowder

Cashew Fruit

I have been playing around with other people's recipes again. There was something similar on AOL and I messed with it. This is the result! A warm, wintery, yummy chowder! Hooray for immersion blenders!

1 large butternut squash
Olive oil
1 cup raw or dry-roasted cashews
2 cups frozen or canned corn
1/3 cup water
2 medium onions, chopped fine
2 stalks celery, chopped fine
2 carrots, peeled and chopped fine
1 garlic bulb, cloves peeled

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
4-5 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Cut the squash in half and scoop out seeds. Rub with olive oil and pour some in the holes. Put garlic cloves in holes and bake for an hour at 400 degrees. Meanwhile, chop onions, celery, and carrots and put in dutch oven with water, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Saute for 5 minutes or so and add stock. Simmer till vegetables are soft. Scoop out squash from the skin and put in dutch oven with garlic. Process cashews till they are a sort of paste/flour-y consistency. Add to dutch oven and puree ingredients with a hand blender. Mix corn with a little salt, pepper, and oil. Bake for 10 minutes at 325 (this step can be skipped and the corn can just be added to the soup). Add corn to soup and serve!