Mr. Hawthorne Makes Butternut Squash Soup.

It's soup weather.
And Mr. Hawthorne is making Butternut Squash Soup.


I had a bunch of volunteer butternut squash popping up in the vegetable garden behind the house.  This is because I'm basically lazy and didn't bother to actually walk across the yard to the compost piles to dump stuff.  So last winter, I just threw stuff off the back deck into the garden area below (I call it my po' white trash compost pile.), tilled it in the spring, and voila!  I have butternut squash this fall.

By the way, my Hawthornelets loved this soup! 
And we're talking one vegan and two vegetarians. 
I know.  I know...  Where did I go wrong???

Mr. Hawthorne's Butternut Squash Soup              

1 butternut squash, peeled and seeded

1 medium onion

2 medium potatoes

2 carrots

1 celery stalk

some olive oil

vegetable stock 

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Peel and seed squash. 

Dice all vegetables.

In medium stock pan, toss diced vegetables in oil to coat and sauté for 2-3 minutes over medium heat.

Cover with vegetable stock and slow simmer for about an hour, until vegetables are tender.

Purée all with immersion blender, adding more stock if you want to thin it out a bit

Season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy! 

Peel the squash and scoop out the seeds and pulp.

         Start dicing.

                                                                     

You want a uniform dice.

Sauté in olive oil.  Mr. Hawthorne likes to use a combination of both olive oil and butter, but left the butter out for the vegan.

Cover the vegetables with vegetable broth and simmer away.

Takes about 45-60 minutes until tender.

Process with immersion blender.

If you don't have an immersion blender, 

use a regular blender and just process a cup or so at a time.

You don't want an explosion here.

Season to taste with kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper.

I love a good soup!