Roasted Acorn Squash Soup

Fall is here, which means it's time for squash, soups, sweaters and knee-high boots. Since this is a food blog, I'll concentrate on squash and soup.

Harris Teeter had a special on winter squash last week: 99 cents/pound. Unfortunately, when I went to the store, there was only acorn squash left. Having never cooked with this particular type of squash, I decided to give it at try. As you can see, it looks exactly like an acorn--thus, the name.

My first idea was to roast the squash. But first, I had to open it. To the rescue came my favorite chef's knife: it was sharp enough to split the acorn squash in two (from top to bottom). I must confess, I had visions of accidentally slicing off a few of my fingers, but luckily, I still have all ten digits.
What I decided to make was a Roasted Acorn Squash Soup.

Ingredients for 4 cups
1/2 acorn squash, seeds removed
1 yellow pepper, halved, seeds removed
1/2 red onion
1 pear, halved, seeds removed
2/3 cups orange juice
a few pinches cayenne, more/less depending on your tolerance
fresh thyme to garnish
salt & pepper to taste



Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. On a parchment paper covered cookie sheet put face down acorn squash, pear, onion, and yellow pepper. (Although I used only 1/2 of each acorn squash and red onion, I roasted the other halves as well). Roast for about 40 minutes.
3. Once the vegetables are roasted and slightly cooled, in a food processor puree 1/2 red onion, 1 pear, the yellow pepper and 1/2 acorn squash (skin removed) with the orange juice, cayenne and salt & pepper to taste.
4. Serve in soup bowls garnished with fresh thyme.



Confession time: I did not love this soup. I think the pear made the soup too sweet. Plus, since I did not have chicken or vegetable broth (and did not want to use water), the soup came out even sweeter than I expected. I tried to remedy things by drizzling the soup with olive oil and a bit of balsamic, but it just did not do the trick for me.

However, I know many of you actually like sweeter tasting soups, and so I'd encourage you to try this recipe. Next time, I'm going to omit the pear and the orange juice and let the squash, the pepper and the red onion shine.

What fall season things have you been cooking in your kichen?