Soupruary 11th: Butternut Squash with Pears and Ginger

It was ginger night, and not a redhead in sight! A travesty!


Location:
My apartment, which smelled so good I was tempted to lick the walls.

Attendees:
Charlie, Joshua, Me


Menu:
Ginger fried rice
Butternut squash soup with pears and ginger


Entertainment:
Television! Live! In my apartment! First time ever! Exclamation point!

The Soup:
I feel like that French figure-skating judge or something. Nothing I say about the soup should be trusted because I've been bought and paid for by the rice.

But oh, that rice. In case you didn't click on it above, here's a second chance. And a third. It might be my new favorite food. I don't often repeat recipes, but this one is going into regular rotation. RICE.

Ok, ok...this blog is about soup. It was totally fine. Not earth-shattering, not as exotic as it sounds--I think it needs more ginger and more texture. The recipe called it a chowder, but to me a chowder needs to be chunky--I don't think it should be all smoothified.


OH, GEEZ. Just realized I was only supposed to puree half the soup. Now I feel like I did it a serious injustice (and I like I need to dust off my reading comprehension skillz).


After all, it was a nice mix of sweet and tangy, and the pears were crisp and lovely. Whatever. Did you make that rice yet?

Adapted from Stephen Pyles' Southwestern Vegetarian

2 Bosc pears, peeled, cored, and diced
Juice of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup peeled and diced Vidalia or Spanish onion
1 rib of celery, diced
1 small carrot, peeled and diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon peeled minced fresh ginger
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and diced (about 3 cups)
1 Yukon Gold potato, diced
5 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup orange juice
Juice of half a lemon
1/2 cup heavy cream

In a small bowl, cover the pears with the lemon juice. If the lemon juice doesn't quite reach, add enough water to fully cover. Set the bowl aside.

Heat the oil over high heat in your soup pot. Add onion, celery, and carrot, and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and sauté for 1 minute, stirring. Add white wine and cook for 3 minutes, or until the wine has mostly disappeared.

Drain half of the pears, and set the other half aside. Add the drained pears to the pan with squash, potato, and broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the squash is tender. Use an immersion blender to puree HALF THE SOUP UNLESS YOU'RE CORRIE AND YOU DON'T LIKE TO READ PROPERLY. Add orange juice, lemon juice, cream and reserved pears until it reaches a nice temperature (not boiling).