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1
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
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2
Cut and peel a butternut squash.
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3
Remove seeds and dice into chunks.
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4
approx 1 inch cubes.
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5
Yeild 4 cups diced.
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6
Toss cubes of squash in olive oil, salt, and pepper and place on a cookie sheet and roast in oven for 45 mins to 60 minutes or until cooked through.
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7
Some squash may cook for less or more time depending on type.
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8
Midway through roasting, toss squash cubes to turn for even browning.
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9
While squash is roasting, fry two strips of bacon until crisp in a heavy bottom pot.
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10
Remove bacon from pot and reserve approx 2 T bacon fat in bottom of pot.
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11
Reserve bacon for topping of soup later.
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12
Let drain on paper towel while soup cooks.
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13
Saute, onions, celery, and carrots until softened on medium heat in bacon fat.
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14
Add thyme and garlic to vegetable mixture in pot and cook for 1 minute.
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15
Add stock to vegetables and add squash once cooked with all juices from cookie sheet.
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16
Bring to boil and then reduce heat.
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17
Uncovered, let soup simmer 20 minutes.
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18
After simmering, remove from pot and puree all soup or put through a food mill until well pureed.
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19
Use caution when using a blender to puree the hot soup.
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20
Lid may blow off so hold a kitchen towel over lid and puree in small amounts at a time.
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21
Strain pureed soup through a sieve for a more silky soup or leave as is for a more rustic soup.
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22
Place pureed and strained soup back into pot and add heavy cream.
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23
May use 1/2 and 1/2.
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24
Then stir and mix well.
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25
Simmer 5 minutes.
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26
Taste for seasonings and add salt or pepper as needed.
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27
If the soup is too thick you may thin with more stock as needed.
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28
Crumble bacon on top and serve with croutons.
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29
See my recipe for homemade croutons that are perfect for this soup.
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30
Recipe #347693.
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31
You can also add 1/4 t cayenne pepper for some heat if you like a little spice.
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32
Also, try it with fresh pumpkin (fresh pie pumpkins) and use 1/2 t nutmeg in recipe and finish with a drizzle of maple syrup on top with the crumbled bacon.
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33
That would be a perfect autumn soup by the fire.
