Good Gourd!

As everyone starts hustling and bustling to the grocery stores for Thanksgiving week, I thought it was only appropriate to offer up a potential "amuse-bouche" to kick-off the big meal!

Whoa! Whoa! Wait a minute! Okay, I know what you're thinking. Am I out of my mind?

Perhaps there's no way you can add one more thing to the menu or squeeze another bowl onto your already "cornucopious" holiday table. If that's the case, then great! Before dinner be sure to give thanks for the abundance in your life.

But we both know by Sunday you'll be tired of turkey sandwiches and looking for something light to recover from the glorious gluttony days before. That's where this sweet and savory treat really comes in handy. Not to mention, it puts those colorful, decorative gourds you bought around Halloween to a good and practical use.

I used a combination of butternut, acorn, and carnival squash. I would recommend using the butternut for half and then experimenting with whatever other winter squash you have available to you.

I served this soup in small portions, but if you do this it's likely people will want seconds. Specifically, I used a set of small 2 x 2 x 2 square bowls sometimes seen in Asian dining. I floated a single oversized crouton or what I call "prosciuttons" of toasted bread topped with smoked Gruyere and crisp prosciutto. Our vegetarian readers will, of course, skip this ingredient (it's the only meat and it's optional), but the salt of the prosciutto really adds a nice dimension to the hint of sweetness in the soup.

Acorn & Butternut Squash Soup with Prosciuttons™
Serves 4-6

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 stick butter
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
4 cups (or 2 lbs) of butternut squash
4 cups (or 2 lbs) of acorn, carnival or comparable squash
32-40 ounces of chicken broth (depending on how thick you like your soup)
1 1/4 tsp minced thyme
1 1/4 tsp minced sage
1/4 cup half and half
2-3 tsp of sugar (season to taste)
Additional "prosciutton" ingredients listed below

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 1 or 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil. This depends on if you'll be baking them in batches or all together.

2. Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Brush or drizzle the squash halves with olive oil. Place them face down on the baking sheets and bake for 20 minutes or until you can pierce them with a fork. Remove from the oven. If you used olive oil on the faces, they should be slightly caramelized.

3. Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute for 10 minutes or until tender.

4. Spoon out the flesh of the squash to measure 8 cups and add to the onions and garlic along with the chicken broth, sage, and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes until the squash is very tender.

5. Working in batches if necessary, puree soup with blender. Return soup to the same pot. (A hand immersion blender really comes in handy here, b/c you can keep the soup in the same pot to puree)

6. Stir in half and half and sugar. Bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper if necessary. Serve or chill and reheat later.*

*The soup can be made one day ahead, but prepare the "prosciuttons" immediately before serving.

*************
Prosciuttons

2 Tbsp (1/4 stick) butter
8-12 (1/4-inch-thick) baguette slices
8-12 slivers/slices of cheese, Gruyere
1/4 lb prosciutto, fat trimmed (optional)

1. Preheat broiler. Butter one side of each bread slice and arrange buttered-side up on a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

2. Broil 1 minute or until golden. Be sure to stay nearby. These can burn very easily!!

3. Turn over and top each piece with a slice of cheese and a small fold of prosciutto. Broil until cheese melts and prosciutto starts to get a little crispy around the edges, about 1 minute.

4. Top each bowl of soup with 1-2 of these croutons. Serve!

Recipe enhanced from Bon Appetit.

Butternut Squash and Pear Soup

I know it's been over a week since we last posted a soup. But I just couldn't figure out what on earth to do with this butternut squash that I bought last week.

See, every year when winter squash come into season I gravitate towards it at the grocery store. I always want to make something new with it, something different, something exotic. But then I assume that it will take way too long to cook, or that if I try to cut into it I might lose a finger, or that it will be more trouble than it's worth. But of course I always buy one anyway. I love a challenge!

Butternut squash has a really thick skin that I find difficult to peel, so I figured the easiest way to deal with this sucker was to leave the skin on, cut it in quarters, de-seed it, season it and chuck it in the oven. It took awhile to cook but I was able to leave it alone and check on it once in a while until it was tender. After peeling the skin away from the flesh, I put it in the fridge and made the soup with it the next day.

What about the exotic part, you ask? Now, I think that squash can be pretty bland on it's own. But a little curry powder changes everything! And since I like a little sweet with my spicy, I throw in a pear to sweeten things up (a little trick I learned from a favorite vegetarian cookbook author of mine named Anna Thomas.)

Since all the "hard" work was done the night before, the rest of the soup only took about 20 minutes to prepare! If you like soup a little bit spicy and a little bit sweet, this one's a keeper!

Butternut Squash and Pear Soup
Serves 4-6

1 medium-sized butternut squash
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 bartlett pear, peeled, seeded, and cubed
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp powdered ginger (try fresh if you have it!)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 good turns on the black pepper mill
salt to taste
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
cilantro for garnish

1. Quarter and seed the squash and rub with olive oil, salt and pepper then roast at 400 degrees until soft, about 30-40 minutes. Let cool and scoop out the flesh. (You can do this up to 3 days ahead of time.)

2. Saute the onion and pear until very soft, about 10 minutes. Add the curry, cinnamon, and ginger and let them toast for a minute, then add the squash. Add the chicken or vegetable broth and let it all simmer for another 10 minutes.

3. Puree the soup with an immersion blender (my preferred method) or in a blender (but be careful to do it in small batches...splattering liquids are HOT!) Add the cream and stir.

4. Feel free to garnish with cilantro and a little more cream.