"Orange" Soup

Preheat oven to about 375. Place in a roasting pan:

3 squash, cut in half with seeds removed (I used two butternet and 1 acorn squash), cloves from 1 head of garlic, peeled

Roast until the squash flesh is tender - test by stabbing with the tines of a fork. To avoid shreiks of burning flesh (YOUR burning flesh), allow to cool about an hour before peeling. Set aside cooked, peeled squash.

Chop 1 large onion or a handful of shallots. (onions will suffice if you didn't get shallots from a CSA share) Sautee in a large soup pot with a few tablespoons of butter. Add about 1/2 pound of shredded carrot, and a few stalks of chopped celery. If you did NOT add garlic to the roasting squash, add some minced garlic now.

Add chicken broth or stock - about 4 cans/8 cups. (tip: for a "hurry up" version of this soup, you could also add canned pumpkin - obviously the unsweetened variety - instead of roasting whole squash)

Grate 1 large piece of fresh ginger (2 or 3 inches square). Retain as much of the ginger juice for the soup as possible. Add the squash and ginger to the pot.

Cook for twenty minutes or so, and then blend with your immersion blender. (if you don't have an immersion blender you'll have to allow the mixture to cool enough so you can put it in a regular blender). Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

I always serve with a splash of cream or half and half.