Its Friday So It Must Be Soup! Butternut Squash Pear Soup

Last summer I had the most incredible squash pear soup with blue cheese and I have been craving it ever since. I had a squash to do a soup with this week and I was going back and forth between replicating the pear squash soup or doing something spicy with coconut and curry paste and , in the end, I chose to try out a pear soup. I found lots of great looking soups for inspiration and I finally settled on this soup from The Pastry Affair as my base but I switched out the apples and juice for pear, I added some pancetta and thyme and to cut the sweetness, I added just a bit of curry powder. I find curry has this ability to add a new depth of flavour with actually making the food taste like curry and I find I use a pinch of it here and there all the time. On it's own it's quite sweet but once you add the greek yogurt and the blue cheese, the sweetness sits in the background and lets the stinky socks and the sour tang of the yogurt play down. One of The Neighbour's loved it, one hated, Little Shack hated and I loved it. I knew that blue cheese was an acquired taste but I didn't realize that squash was such a polarizing food item.

This soup doesn't taste like the soup I ate last summer but it is really good and I will certainly make this one again. Well, I will make again next year since TODAY MARKS THE LAST MONTH IN MY NO REEATS CHALLANGE!!!
do I sound exited?

Butternut Squash Pear Soup
adapted from this squash soup on The Pastry Affair

1 2-3 lb butternut squash
3 pears, peeled, cored and quarted
about 30g pancetta
1 cup celery, diced finely
1 onion, diced finely
sprig fresh thyme
olive oil
1/2 cup pear juice
salt and pepper
4-4 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp mild curry powder
blue cheese, crumbled for serving
greek yogurt

preheat oven to 425F

Peel and cube the squash into approx 2" chunks and toss them with some olive oil and salt. Put on a parchment lined baking tray and roast for about 45 minutes
During the last 10 to 15 minutes of roasting, throw the quartered pears on top.

Meanwhile, heat a glug of olive oil in a soup pot and sauté the pancetta til crispy and then remove with a slotted spoon. Add the  onion and celery and cook until they are softened. Add the squash and the pears, the chicken broth, thyme and the pear juice and simmer until everything is nice and soft, for another 15 minute. Either remove to puree in a blender or use an immersion blender to make it smooth and creamy right in the soup pot.
To serve, ladle the soup into a bowl, scatter a bit of blue cheese on top and a dollop of greek yogurt

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