UMMY, YUMMY Butternut Squash Soup

Sometimes the best recipes are the ones made on the fly.  This past Friday night, we had our first dinner party in our new home.  In my typical obsessive compulsive approach I had it all planned out, or at least I thought I did.  I had this perfect image of a coconut squash soup with herbs and side accoutrements to top it off.  Totally not what happened... it was even better!

NOTE:  do not do what I did in this picture and cut the squash into slices.  HUGE waste of time, energy and burnt fingers.

Ingredients:
2 Large Butternut Squash
2 Garlic Cloves, cut in 1/4
2 Shallot, cut in 1/8
1 Tbs. Cinnamon
1 Tsp. Salt
1 1/2 Cartons of Chicken Broth
Some Olive Oil

Tools:
Baking Pan covered with tin foil
Hand Blender, or a regular blender if you don't have a hand blender
VERY LARGE POT

So let's get this baby cooked.  Pre-heat the oven to 450.  Cut the squash into quarters, remove the butt and the head of each squash and make sure you scoop out the seeds.  Lay them skin down on the pan, drizzle with olive oil and roast them in the over for 40 minutes, or until slightly browned, but NOT burnt.

Once done, take them out of the oven.  You may or may not want to let them cool a bit before you do the next step.  I have no patience and so ended up with slightly burnt hands.  Next Step: remove the meat from the skin.  This can be done with a big spoon or fork, or any other tool you can think of that will separate.  (TIP: personal pleasure devices don't work)

In the VERY LARGE POT, preferably cast iron, turn heat on medium, get a good amount of olive oil in there and toss in the shallots.  Sweat them out for 5 minutes or so, then toss in the garlic and let that sweat for another few minutes.  Don't let it burn.  Add the squash and mix it all together.  By this time your squash with be partially mashed.  Add the chicken broth, mix it up.  Add the cinnamon and salt, mix it up again.

Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and let cook for another 40 minutes.  Mix up every 10 minutes.

When done, turn off the heat, stick in your hand blender and blend it smooth.

Now you're done.  eat.

NOTE:  This is going to be a very thick soup, almost like mashed squash.  It is awesome with some beef sliders, BBQ chicken wings, or some grilled cheese sandwiches.  (not all Paleo, but all worth while)

xoxo

S