In your large soup pot heat up 3 tbsp of the olive oil and sauté the onion until translucent with a good pinch of sea salt. Add the garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds just until it starts releasing its flavors. Add the butternut squash and bell pepper and toss to coat. Add the vegetable stock and bay leaf and bring to a gentle simmer. Cover with a lid and cook until the butternut squash is soft, about 20 minutes. Discard the bay leaf and using a hand-held blender purée the soup until smooth. Stir in 1/4 c of the cream and remove from flame.

Meanwhile heat up a large cast iron pan or plate on medium flame with a tbsp if olive oil. Cook the chanterelle mushrooms with a pinch of sea salt until they start to caramelized around the edges. Don’t overcrowd the pan and allow most water to evaporate from the mushrooms during cooking.

Depending on the water content it might take longer to caramelize.

Reserve a few of the best looking smaller chanterelles for garnish and transfer the rest to the pot with the butternut squash. Using the hand-held blender purée about half of the chanterelles in the soup with the butternut squash, keeping some of them in a rustic pieces.

Add the baby spinach to the soup, stir and cover with the lid. Allow the soup to sit covered for a few minutes for the steam to wilt the spinach.

Adjust seasonings with sea salt to your taste and ladle Into bowls. Garnish with the reserved mushroom and a nice swirl of heavy cream. Serve with freshly grated nutmeg on top.