This is my go-to recipe for a quick, light and easy soup/salad dinner. To me, it’s like a hot, savory smoothie. If you are used to cream or milk in your pureed soups, you won’t miss it a bit in this soup.  The texture and color are amazing: it’s silky smooth and bright, bright orange.

Start by roasting squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions and pears. The variety of vegetables gives the soup more depth of flavor.

When the vegetables are soft, puree them in a blender with vegetable broth, fresh ginger and curry powder.  For this recipe I used both ginger and Galangal (Thai ginger) that I found at my local farmers market.  The Thai ginger has a bit a bite to it, similar to horseradish. It can be found at Asian markets, if you are curious to try it.  I’m a fan.

Once the soup is pureed, serve it with toppings of your choice.  I added diced pears and green onion to echo the flavors of the soup.  Homemade croutons would also be a nice addition. Serve with a simple arugula salad topped with nuts and dried cherries or whatever you have in your pantry or fridge. A white balsamic vinaigrette would be perfect.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Pear Soup

Serves 4

1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

4 carrots, peeled and cubed

1 large sweet onion, peeled and cubed

2 pears, peeled, cored and cubed

2 cups low sodium vegetable broth

2 Tbsp fresh ginger

1/2 Tbsp curry powder

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 pear, small dice

2 scallions, minced, white and light green part only

Sea salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425F. Combine vegetables and pears on a sheet tray and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Roast until softened, about 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.  Add mixture to blender (Vitamix is great here) with vegetable broth, ginger and curry powder.  Blend on high (power 10) for 6 minutes.  Add more broth is the soup seems too thick. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste. Top with diced pears and scallions.