ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH FALL VEGETABLE SOUP PUREE

With fall around the corner, and with the weather getting a bit chilly, making soup seems just the right thing to do.  Plus, this soup is delicious!

I chopped vegetables, seasoned them and roasted them. Along with the vegetables I used two juicy Bosc pears. That was the best part! 

I purchased the butternut squashed cleaned and pre-cut. It's so much more convenient not to have to clean, trim, and slice the squash. I know that my supermarket has it available freshly pre-cut; it doesn't come into the store covered with preservatives, and that's key! 

The kitchen smelled great as the vegetables were roasting. The herbs that had been combined with them gave off a pleasant aroma. When the vegetables came out of the oven, they looked and tasted wonderful. I pureed them with some vegetable broth and made a very enjoyable chunky-creamy fall soup, one that I will make again and again. 

Ingredients:

1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1½ inch pieces, or approximately 1  1/4 pounds (635 grams) of pre-cut butternut squash. 
2 medium red potatoes, scrubbed well and quartered (leave the skin on)
1 small sweet potato peeled and chopped
2 medium yellow onions, peeled and quartered

3 carrots halved lengthwise and cut into 1½-inch pieces
2 stalks of celery chopped

2 Bosc pears, peeled, cored and quartered. 
6 cloves of garlic left unpeeled

olive oil
salt and pepper to taste (not too much pepper)

sprigs of fresh sage, thyme, and rosemary

1/4 teaspoon of turmeric
4 to 6 cups of vegetable broth

optional: some roasted pine nuts for garnish

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 400° F, 200° C.
• Line two large-rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper (makes for easy clean up) and grease the surface of the paper with olive oil. Place the vegetables on the baking sheets - don't add the pears yet - and toss the vegetables with some olive oil, salt and pepper, the leaves from thyme springs and a few branches of rosemary. 
• Roast until the vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, about 50 minutes.
• Halfway through roasting take the vegetables out of the oven, turn them over so they roast evenly, and mix in the pears. Place the vegetables back in the oven and continue cooking until done.
• In a large saucepan warm four cups of the vegetable broth along with some sage leaves. The rest of the broth can be used if the soup needs to be thinned out. 
• Squeeze the garlic cloves and remove the roasted part. Discard the garlic peels.
• Place the vegetable broth into a large saucepan and add the turmeric along with some sage leaves. 
• Carefully add the vegetables and bring the mixture to a boil. Purée the vegetables with an immersion blender.
• Taste the soup for seasoning and reheat as needed.
• You can always spruce up the soup by garnishing it with some roasted pine nuts. 

Make sure the vegetables are well caramelised.