Butternut Squash Pear Soup with Chorizo and Goat Cheese

Did you know pears are a year round fruit?  We think of them as winter bearing fruits, but in fact you can fresh of the tree fruit whenever you want.  Especially here in the Pacific Northwest, pears are abundant and beautiful.  I took this opportunity to add natural sweetness to a butternut squash soup recipe using pears.  Also seeing as I just finished my 21 Day Food Lovers Cleanse, I am easing into eating meat again.  So it was  fun balancing flavors by adding a savory, mildly spicy Spanish dried chorizo for garnish, as well as a tangy goat cheese for creaminess.  The savory butternut squash soup paired perfectly with the sweetness and thickening the pears provided, plus the texture of the chorizo and goat cheese made it a nice warming dish, without making it too heavy. Perfect meal following a cleanse.

Note:  I lightly toasted slices of good crusty bread to serve this butternut squash soup with, and smeared each piece with creamy goat cheese for a nice accompaniment.  Add another 1/2 cup goat cheese to your shopping list if you want to try this.  If not go ahead and just follow the recipe with the 1 cup goat cheese for garnish.

Butternut Squash Pear Soup with Chorizo and Goat Cheese

Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion chopped, about 2 cups

2 carrots chopped, about 1 cup

2 celery stalks chopped, about 1 cup

2 cup pears, cored, seeded, and chopped, about pears

8 cups butternut squash peeled, seeded, and chopped, about 2 small squash

6 cups stock, chicken or vegetable, use gluten free if needed

1 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 cup dried Spanish chorizo, small chopped for garnish, omit for vegetarian

1 cup goat cheese, crumbled for garnish

1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley chopped for garnish

Method:

1.  In a 6 quart Dutch oven or heavy bottom pot, heat the oil over medium heat, add onions.  Cook until tender, but no color, about 5 minutes.  Add carrots, and celery, cook for 5 minutes.  Add pears, butternut squash, then stock.  Bring to a boil over high heat, lower heat to medium, and reduce to a simmer.  Add salt and pepper, stir.  Cook covered for 20 minutes or until squash is tender.

2.  Once squash is tender, turn off heat.  Using and immersion blender, or using a blender to work in batched batches, blend until smooth.

Blender Tip:  If using a counter blender, use a ladle, add about 2-3 ladle full of soup to blender.  Once blended, add the puree to a large bowl.  Work in batches until all of the soup is pureed.  {Do not overfill the blender, it will splatter hot soup all over and make a mess, or worse, get on your skin}.  Add the pureed soup back to the pot once it is all pureed.

3.  Once soup is pureed, taste for seasoning.  Add salt and pepper if needed.

4.  Serve in a warm bowl with chorizo, goat cheese, and parsley.  This soup is great for leftovers and will last for about 5 days stored in airtight container in the fridge.  You can also freeze it in batches for up to 3 months.

ENJOY!