Appalachian Harvet

If you were to be asked, what would your idea of fall in the Appalachians bring to mind?
Would it inspire visions of a mountain cabin, roaring fire with smoke issuing from the chimney, or would your mouth start to water thinking about the taste of a bountiful harvest or even spiced apple cider? I have created by own Appalachian version of a cold-weather classic butternut squash soup with Kalamata Tapenade on crustini. I served this recently for a business meeting at our home, and everyone loved this meal, with several people taking a copy of my recipe home. The basic soup can be prepared the day before as well as the tapenade.

Appalachian Harvest Soup
5 tbs butter
2 ½ pounds of butternut squash , peeled , seeded and cut into ½ inch pieces (around 6 cups)
2 c. chopped leeks (white and greens only)
½ c. chopped peeled carrots
½ c. chopped celery
2 large granny smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped
2 tbsn nutmeg
½ tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp dried sage leaves
5 c. chicken stock
2 c. apple cider
2/3 c. sour cream
½ c. whipping cream or heavy cream
Chopped fresh chives
Melt butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add squash, leeks, carrots and celery; sauté until slightly softened, about 15 min. Mix in apples, nutmeg, thyme and sage. Add stock and 1 ½ c cider and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until apples are tender, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Cool slightly.
Working in batches, puree soup in blender. Return soup to pan. Boil remaining ½ C cider in heavy small saucepan until reduced to ¼ cup, around 5 minutes. Cool. Place sour cream in a small bowl, whisk in the reduced cider.
Bring soup to a simmer. Mix in whipping cream, ladle soup into bowls. Drizzle with the cider cream and top with chives.

Olive Tapenade
20 pitted Kalamata olives finely chopped
1 small can of sliced black olives, finely chopped
1 tbsp drained and rinsed and chopped balsamic capers
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
Mix all ingredients and add fresh cracked pepper, chill and serve.

Crustini
1 large baguette cut into ¼ slices
Olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees, place bread on cookie sheet, brush each side with olive oil and bake until crisp.