I'm transferring this recipe from Facebook to somewhere less annoying to get to it. There are two different entry points for this recipe, depending on whether your squash is raw or already cooked and pureed. Either way, you're looking to caramelize the squash.

Starting from raw:

  1. Preheat your oven to 450°F and put a baking pan in there.
  2. Peel, halve, and cube the squash. Save the peels for…
  3. … making broth: Put the peels in a good-size saucepan with some onion skins, garlic skins, salt and pepper to taste, and maybe a bay leaf, and add water to cover by a couple of inches. (You want at least 4 C of broth.) Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
  4. Toss about half the squash in good olive oil with a little salt and pepper and dump it on the pan. Roast for 30-40 minutes, tossing halfway through, until the squash is fork-tender and brown on the corners.

Starting from puree:

  1. Preheat your oven to 400° and put a baking pan in there – one with a good rim if you've got one. Get your enamel-cast-iron dutch oven good and hot, then add a little olive oil. (If you don't have an enamel-cast-iron dutch oven, you can use a stockpot, but you deserve to spend the $50 it'll cost you to get one of the nice Lodge ones.)
  2. Take about 3 C of puree and spread it on the bottom of the dutch oven. You're looking to make fond.
  3. Once you have a good layer of fond, scoop the squash puree out and put it on the baking pan. Smear it pretty thin, but try to leave some corners (they'll brown). Throw it back in the oven and switch to broil. Keep an eye on it and stir it up once the top starts browning.

Okay, so your squash is cooking. Let's make soup:

  1. Brown 2 T butter in the dutch oven. Add 1 yellow onion, sliced thin, a couple cloves of garlic, minced, and some salt. Reduce heat to medium-low and caramelize the onion. Plan on this taking 20 minutes.
  2. Take the onions out of the pot and get your scrapiest spatula out. Off heat, dump a shot of bourbon in the pot and scrape up all the fond you can.
  3. Back on the heat, put the onion back in, add the squash (deglaze the baking sheet if you started with puree), a bay leaf, some thyme (fresh if you have it), salt and pepper, and then add 4 C of the broth you just made. Simmer for 10 or 20 minutes.
  4. Off heat, remove the bay leaf and scrape up anything that's stuck to the bottom. Add 1 C of heavy cream and hit it with your stick blender. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Accoutrements:

  • Sour cream + cinnamon + nutmeg + clove + allspice?
  • Harissa?
  • Garlic croutons?
  • Toasted butternut squash seeds?
  • Fried sage leaves?
  • Crumbled bacon?

Yes; so good; luscious; autumn in a bowl; I would eat it any time of year though