I was able to conquer the soup, cut and wash the arugula and chop all fresh herbs on Friday, making setting up to cook on Saturday much easier.
The recipe for Butternut Squash Soup was simple and the recipe (with my adjustments) is here, I took off Allrecipes.com, it was so easy and served with a salad could be a meal all on its own:
INGREDIENTS
* 6 tablespoons chopped onion
* 4 tablespoons BUTTER
* 2 Butternut Squashes, cut lengthwise and seeded
* 3 1/2 cups chicken stock
* 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
* 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
* 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
* Sprinkle of nutmeg
DIRECTIONS
1. Add olive oil, salt and pepper to each piece of the Butternut squash, roast at 375-degrees for about 35-40 minutes. I roasted cut side up for first 25 minutes and then flipped.
2. Remove squash from oven and let cool, when cool enough to handle, scoop our center or peel and cut into cubes.
3. In a large saucepan, saute onions in butter until tender. Add squash, chicken broth, marjoram, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Bring to boil; cook 20 minutes. Sprinkle in just a tiny bit of nutmeg.
4. Puree squash and cream cheese in a blender or food processor in batches until smooth. (If you are making in advance chill after this step.)
5. Return to saucepan, and heat through. Do not allow to boil.
PS. I prepared the "bowls" the next day but they were surprisingly much easier to make than I expected. The directions are:
One large acorn squash for each person attending
Cut top off, like you are making a Jack-o-latern (reserve for when serving)
Scoop out seeds and insides - discard
Cut out any loose insides, being sure to not thin walls too much
Roast at 375-degrees cut side down for about 25 minutes, be very careful to not over roast because the bowls need to be strong enough to hold the soup. Also some acorn squashes have points on the bottom, just level them off before roasting, again being careful to not cut too much.
When there is about 5-10 minutes left, place the "tops" in the oven to roast with the shells.
Like I said, this was much easier than I expected, just work with a sharp knife, the presentation is worth the effort, it made the table look great and saved on dishes!
