My Favorite Fall Soup – Butternut Squash & Pear Soup

While the onions were cooking, I sliced the stem and blossom ends off the squash and cut through the middle of it with a chef’s knife. 

When selecting the pears for this recipe, I chose the ripest ones I could find. To test for pear ripeness, gently press around the stem or neck of the pear. If the neck has some “give” to it, it is ripe and ready. I peeled the ripe pears gently with a soft skin peeler.  Soft skin peelers are  handy tools for peeling soft skin fruits and vegetables like tomatoes, kiwi, peaches, plums and pears. They look like a potato peeler with little teeth on the blade. If you don’t have soft skin peeler, simply peel the pear with a paring knife.

Butternut Squash Soup

Eat well this fall, Angie

Ingredients: 4 Tbs. unsalted butter 2 large onions, diced 1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces 4 medium Bosc, Anjou, or Comice pears, peeled; 3 chopped into 1-inch pieces and 1 finely diced for garnish 1 quart reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable stock 2 rosemary sprigs 1/2 cup heavy cream Salt Freshly ground black pepper Sugar   Directions: Heat butter in large pot over medium heat until melted and bubbling. Add onions and cook until softened and starting to turn translucent. Add squash and pears and cook 5 minutes. Add stock. Ingredients should be submerged in liquid. If not, add just enough water to do so. Add rosemary, bring to a simmer, and cook until squash and pears are very tender, about 45 minutes. Remove rosemary sprigs. Purée in pot with a stick blender until smooth. Or, do in batches in the blender. Add in heavy cream and mix by hand. Season with salt, pepper, and sugar to taste. Place heap of diced pear in the middle of each serving bowl, then surround with soup. Serves 8-10.