Butternut Squash and Pear Soup

 

Make this!  Make this right now!  No seriously, do it!  And make sure you have some delicious bread around, ahem I posted a fab recipe recently.  Toast it.  And butter it.  AND DUNK IT!  And then you will be full and warm and you won't even notice that the temperature is dropping... again. 

Get your chopping tunes cranked.  Might I suggest some Pixies.  And get together this cast of characters:

1 medium butternut squash
4 cups vegetable stock
3 pears
sea salt
olive oil
water
black pepper

That is all.  No joke.

Preheat the oven to 425

Halve the butternut squash and scoop out the seeds.  Place on a baking sheet.  Drizzle the cut side with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Put cut side down and roast until fork tender.  Set aside and let cool.

Peel and core pears.  Chop into 1/2 inch, approximately, cubes.  They don't have to be exactly 1/2 inch, they will just cook faster, and you are just going to puree them later.  Put pear pieces into a saucepan and just cover with water.  Simmer away until the pear starts to fall apart.

Scoop out squash.  If the side that was in contact with the pan is brown/crusty save that out.  Eat it.  It is a little salty squash chip.  Put the cooked squash into a large pot.  Add in the pears, water and all.  Pour in the vegetable stock.  Let it simmer away for about 15 minutes.

Now you get to use kitchen toys.  If you got an immersion blender for Christmas, like I did, fire it up and puree the soup while it is on the stove.  Turn the burner off of course!  If you did not get an immersion blender for Christmas, boo for you, carefully pour the mixture into either a blender or a food processor.  And blitz away until you reach a consistency that you like.  At this point you may need to add some hot water, squash soup always seems to get super thick and almost baby food like - gross - after you puree it.  Pour the soup back into the pot. Add water until it is "soupy" enough for you.  Keep on low heat and let it bubble while you make toast.

Put your bread into the toaster.  Toast it to perfection.  Put on a nice layer of butter.  Everything is better with buttah!

Serve it up and give it a good grind of fresh black pepper.  Be careful not to burn your tongue.  Let's get another look at that fabulous bread...

Perfect!  Enjoy!