Butternut squash soup

IT's FaLL!! Well, not yet. But thanks to a ridiculously hot summer and a statewide drought, butternut squash season has come early and I plan on taking full advantage. I suggest that you do as well. In all honesty, this is one of my favorite meals and one of the best things I make. You should try it.

Butternut Squash Soup w/ Sage and Parmesan

Two medium to medium large butternut squash (peeled, cut in half, seeded and diced into cubes)
1 large yellow onion
6-7 large sage leaves
heaping 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper + more to garnish soup with
about 1 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
5 cups of stock (I use vegetable stock, but you can use chicken stock. Homemade is best. If you buy veg stock do NOT use a tomato based stock for this soup. Made that mistake once. Kinda ruins it.)

Special equipment: an emulsion hand blender or a regular blender.

I use a dutch oven for most of my soups. Get the d.o. hot and then thinly cover the bottom with olive oil. Throw in the diced onion, stirring every so often so it doesn't get overly brown. You want the onion to be soft so you can probably cook over medium high heat for 6-7 mins. Add salt and pepper (to taste - about 15 grinds of a pepper mill and sea salt grinder. Be aware of how salty your stock is when adding salt at this stage.) Dice the sage leaves and put them in with the onion, stirring regularly for another 2 mins. Put in the stock and bring to a boil. Once it boils, add the diced butternut squash and turn the heat down to a simmer / slight boil. It will look like a lot of squash, but you want the squash to be even to slightly higher than your stock level once in the pot.

After about 15 mins, check the squash. It should be very fork tender and you should be able to pierce through the largest pieces easily with a fork. If this is the case, remove the soup from the burner and use the emulsion hand blender to blend the soup to your desired texture. I like it velvety smooth, other people like it chunky. I'll let you decide. Once it is blended, stir in the cup of Parmesan.  When you're serving give a couple shakes of cayenne pepper to the top of each bowl. Like this:

I serve this soup with crusty whole grain garlic bread and some kind of fruit - usually green grapes.  I don't know why the three things go together, but they work and taste delicious. Grilled cheese is also a good co-pilot or cheese and crackers.

Happy Butternut Squash Soup Season, everyone!