Cooking 101 - Butternut Squash & Corn Chowder

Good heavenly mercy this stuff is amazing. If you'd really like a taste of fall, try this soup. Kadie brought it over on Sunday with some of her incredible Artisan Bread (it's all on her blog) and I was honestly blown away! I was over in my corner of the table groaning with my bowl of soup, dipping my bread in it, soup running all down my face, and not a bit embarrassed.

The adorable Kristine also brought over pork chops with the most heavenly glaze - I'm going to have to get that recipe for you, too. Everything all went together so well.

(that's how you have a 'dinner gathering' - everybody else brings the food!!)

I made this soup last night and bought a loaf of ciabatta bread at the store - buttered it, sprinkled Thyme on top, and broiled it for a few minutes. A-MAZING. okay, okay, on with the recipe. Geeze - all this needless chatter.

Butternut Squash & Corn Chowder

2 T vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 inch chunks (about 5 cups)
1 medium onion, chopped
10 oz frozen corn, thawed
1 1/2 t curry powder
coarse salt and pepper
2 cans (14.5 oz each) vegetable broth
1/2 cup heavy cream

In a large heavy pot, heat oil over med-high heat. Add squash and onion. Cook until onion is soft, about 6 minutes. Add corn and curry powder and cook until curry is fragrant, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add broth and simmer until squash is tender, about 25 minutes. In a blender, blend the soup until smooth, working in batches if you have to. Return to pot and stir in cream. Heat through but do NOT let it boil.

**Note: if you have one of those handy immersion blenders, that works better than dumping everything in a real blender. But use what you have and do what works.