Roasted Butternut Squash and Pear Soup

After a disappointing result with the stuffed squash dish, I was eager to get something right. I spent a day or two reading blogs and looking up good mixtures for soup. Tanjent over at Diary of a Knifethrower had a lot of tips for making this kind of soup and Stephanie at A Year of Slow Cooking had a great method for using the crock pot, which I am always a fan of. The time spent reading, really helped me to guide my experimenting and developing a new recipe.


CrockPot Butternut Squash and Pear Soup
ingredients:

• 1 medium to large butternut squash
• 1 large yellow onion
• 2 pears, bosc or barlett
• 1 clove of garlic
• 4 c stock, vegetable or chicken
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp greek yogurt
  
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp cinnamon sugar, optional
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

procedure:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 and begin cutting the squash. Slice lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Brush the inside with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in heated oven until the flesh becomes soft and skin can be peeled away easily.* This step can be done up to 4 days in advance.
   
2. Lower oven temp to 375. Slice onion and place on a foil lined pan with a drizzle of olive oil and light salt and pepper. Wrap garlic clove in foil. Add to the onions. Roast on the top rack of the oven until the onions become lightly browned.
3. Chop pears. Add to another foil lined baking pan. Roast on the lower rack for 30 to 40 mins.
4. When the pear, and onion are done place in a bowl.** Mash garlic and add to the bowl. You can choose to season with cinnamon sugar while still warm. Set aside.
   
5. Scoop squash flesh into a lined baking pan and roast a second time for 35 mins.
6. Once all the veggies are done, place in crock pot.
7. Add stock, butter, and cinnamon to the crock pot as well.
   
8. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours.
9. After 5 hours, use an immersion blender or blend in small batches in blender until smooth. Add greek yogurt and cook for another 30 minutes and serve.

Tips:
* Butternut squash can be extremely hard to cut into. If you are weary of taking on this task, place the whole squash in the microwave for 3-5 minutes to soften. Butternut squash can also be purchased cubed, usually in the frozen foods section.
**Most pears have a gritty texture. Using a bosc and barlett, gave a less gritty texture. To avoid this, run the pear through a food processor after roasting and then strain the puree.