Even with boots, chilly weather, and blog posts about pumpkins, to me, it’s not officially fall until I make a batch of butternut squash soup. For one thing, it’s easy, filling, and oh-so healthy. But the soup’s gorgeous, saturated orange color? The way it warms you from the inside out? Fall. Totally fall.

Butternut squash soup is great in that it’s simple on its own, but you can zhush it up with garnishes and other add-ins to make it fancier. It’s also the perfect thing if you’re looking for a vegan/vegetarian friendly recipe — there’s definitely no rule that says you have to include chicken stock or cream in it!

Below is a version I made on Monday night to bring for lunches throughout the week. I like making my soup with something to add just a touch of sweetness. This time, instead of apples, I used two pears that were on their last leg. Along with a sweet potato and some regular potatoes to help thicken things up, this soup was SO satisfying. Feeling fancy? You could dress it up with a dollop of crème fraîche, or swirl some cream right into the soup once you’ve heated it. I’m guessing a garnish of chives and crumbled bacon would also not be horrible. I’ve tried butternut squash soup with toasted hulled pumpkin seeds on top, too — it’s really good!

Simple Butternut Squash Soup
Serves 8 (at least)

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 medium sized butternut, peeled and diced
–kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tsp dried thyme, or 1 tbsp if you are using fresh
1 dried bay leaf
2 Bosc peers, peeled, cored and roughly chopped (could substitute apples, too)
1 large orange sweet potato, peeled and diced
2 large red potatoes, peeled and diced (you could also substitute Yukon gold or russet — whatever you have)
2 quarts vegetable stock

In a large heavy bottomed pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Once hot, add in the onion and the diced squash, then season well with salt and pepper. Stir and let sweat, until the onions are softened and beginning to turn translucent. Pour in the white wine and stir. Add in the thyme, the bay leaf, the pears, the potatoes and the stock. Gently stir, and season well with salt and pepper.

Bring to a simmer and let cook for half an hour, or until the largest pieces of potato or squash are very tender. Remove the bay leaf. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until it is velvety smooth. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can add batches of the soup to a blender and process. Be careful not to add too much; work in small batches so as not to accidentally burn yourself. Taste the pureed soup and adjust the seasonings.

Serve hot with the garnishes of your choice.

Also, here’s a quick tutorial on how to cut up a butternut squash. No need to be intimidated by their strange shape and hard skin!

1. Of all the winter squashes, I think butternuts have the thinnest skin. I used to cut away the skin with a knife, but I hated how much squash I’d lose (and I almost chopped off my finger a time or two). A few years ago when I was recipe testing for a local newspaper, a chef showed me how I could just peel it with a sturdy vegetable peeler (I like the Good Grips one from OXO), and I’ve never looked back. It’s much safer, and you get more squash that way. You can also cut the squash in half first (see below) if it’s easier for you to peel it this way.

2. Once you’ve peeled the butternut, cut it crosswise where the base of the squash starts to balloon or bell out. This is approximately where the seeds are.

3. Cut both pieces in half; this will make them more manageable to cut down further. Use a spoon to scoop the seeds out and discard any of the stringy pulp.

4. If you’re cubing the squash like I was for the soup, cut the longer part into planks, then into sticks, then into cubes. You can cut the round part of the squash into half circles, then dice from there.

Presto! Your squash is all cut up and ready to go, and you didn’t slice off your hand trying to deal with it.

Fall may have my heart when it comes to fashions, but food wise? I’m totally a summer girl. Who can say no to the bounty of fresh vegetables, fruits and fragrant herbs that hit their peak this time of year?

One of my absolute favorite dishes to make in the summer time is ratatouille. A traditional dish hailing from the Provence region of France (and pronounced rat-eh-too-ee…it took me forever to get it right), ratatouille is traditionally made by stewing together tomatoes, onions, peppers, eggplant, squash and herbs. There’s much debate about the ‘proper’ way to make it, and like many French dishes, it seems like the right way to make it is the way your grandmother did.

In any case, I had yet to make a batch this summer, and was dying to get back in to the kitchen after several weeks of vacationing and dining out. I had also had this image pinned on Pinterest for a while, and it inspired me to try my hand at a sort of baked ratatouille, made a bit more decadent (and very non-traditional) with a crusty, cheesy topping. All the same flavor, but it would look much prettier when it was finished! As I was making this, I remembered another French dish called confit byaldi, which is a variation on ratatouille and was also featured in the 2007 Pixar film by the same name. Mine is definitely not as fancy as that, but it was SO simple to put together and it tasted like summer. On a Wednesday night in August, who can ask for more?

Baked Ratatouille

Serving: The recipe below makes enough for one large round baking dish. I divided my vegetables up in to one medium oval dish, and another smaller one. Depending on whether you were serving this as a main course or as a side dish, the recipe can feed between 2 and 4 people.

• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• –pinch crushed red pepper flake
• 1 medium-large zucchini
• 1 medium-large yellow zucchini
• 1 orange heirloom tomato
• 4 medium vine tomatoes
• 1 small Japanese eggplant
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• –Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

Note about the vegetables: Be sure to purchase squash, eggplant and tomatoes that are roughly the same size in diameter. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but if you end up with a really skinny zucchini and a fat eggplant, you may have to do some trimming to get the dish to look as nice. When I made this dish, I used a regular bell shaped eggplant, and that made things more difficult, which is why I’m recommending the use of Japanese eggplant. They tend to be more cylindrical.

For garnish:

• –Asiago or your choice of cheese (I’d try Parmigiano Reggiano, or even goat cheese! But whatever you have around and will melt well.)
• –Fresh basil, julienned

Preheat your oven to 400°.

In a medium skillet, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. Once hot, add in the onions and let cook for a minute until they just begin to soften. Add in half of the chopped garlic, the crushed red pepper flake, and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring occassionally, while you prepare the vegetables. Lower the heat if you notice the onions are browning too quickly.

While the onions cook, slice the ends off the squash and eggplant, as well as the stems off of the tomatoes. Then, slice each vegetable so that it is about 1/4″ thick. You can make this more thick or less thick — the most important thing is that you make your cuts consistent, so the vegetables will all cook evenly. If you make the cuts thinner, keep in mind they can cook faster; thicker, and they will take a bit longer (though the flavor can develop more).

Once the vegetables are prepped, add in the tomato paste to the pan with the onions. Stir to distribute and “melt,” until the paste has coated the onions and the mixture is fragrant. Transfer the onion mixture to the bottom of your baking dish, and drizzle with a tablespoon or so of olive oil.

Next, begin arranging your sliced vegetables in the dish, alternating by color. You can arrange these in whatever pattern you want; I like to stack them in an outer circle first, then fill the inside area with leftover pieces. Sprinkle the rest of the garlic over the top of the arranged vegetables, then season the whole thing with salt and pepper, and drizzle with a bit more olive oil.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes to an hour, or until the mixture is very bubbly and the vegetables look tender. Remove the dish from the oven, and turn your broiler on to high. Layer shaved or sliced cheese on top of the cooked vegetables, then bake underneath the broiler until the cheese gets bubbly and brown. Let the dish sit for a couple minutes, garnish with freshly chopped basil, and serve. This is delicious with grilled steaks, roasted chicken, and would also be awesome with pasta or cous cous!

I’m not really in a position to say much else than I find myself in a very transitional phase right now.  We’ve all gone through those periods where we were happy, but still uncomfortably aware of the uncertainty in our lives (that, in reality, was with us all along). My mind has been more preoccupied with figuring some things out than it has been with interesting food tidbits and writing short stories — though, to be sure, I’m as addicted as ever to the food blogs and have been eating quite well at home. Worry not…I’ll never lose my interest in good eats.

I spent this last weekend in the company of good friends, as a large group of college companions made their way up to the Bay Area for the annual “Weekender,” in which our alma mater plays either Stanford or Berkeley.  It was nice spending time with good people, and reminding myself that at this age, at this moment in our lives — mid-20somethings nearly 3 years out of school — that uncertainty is more than okay: it’s completely expected.  I have a terrible habit of worrying, and an even worse habit of trying to have all the answers, all the time.  It’s nice to be grounded by other people and remember that I’m doing okay.

That, and soup always helps.  Here are two more fantabulous soup recipes I created in the last week.  Can you tell I’ve been needing warm, soul-soothing comfort food?

Lamb Stew with Butternut Squash and Pomegranate

This stew draws inspiration from the flavors of Northern Africa: warm spices, multiple layers of savory and tart flavors, and rich, earth-tone colors.  Savor it on a cool autumn evening — and it’s even better the next day.

• 1 1/2 cups AP flour, seasoned liberally with kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper and garlic powder
• 1 lb organic/pasture raised lamb stew meat, cut into 1″ pieces
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 large yellow onion, diced small
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
• 375 mL (half bottle) of dry red wine (I used Pinot Meunier)
• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2″ pieces
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 dashes of ground cinnamon
• 1 quart good quality beef or vegetable stock (if using vegetable stock, make sure it has a dark hue)
• 2 cups chopped kale
• 1 pomegranate, halved and seeds removed

Dredge the lamb pieces in the AP flour mixture, and set aside.  In a large soup pot, heat 3 tbsp of the olive oil over medium high heat.  Once hot, use tongs to add in the lamb pieces, shaking off any excess flour as you pick them up.  Be sure to reserve the extra seasoned flour for later.  Brown the lamb pieces on all sides, then remove to a separate bowl.

Add in the onions and garlic to the pan, stirring until they just begin to soften.  Add the tomato paste and continue stirring until it is well incorporated into the mixture.  Add in the last tablespoon of olive oil, along with 1/4 cup of the flour mixture, and stir vigorously until the mixture is dry looking.  Pour in the wine while stirring, and reduce for 1 minute.  Add in the stock, squash, dried oregano, bay leaf and cinnamon, along with the browned lamb and any accumulated juices.  Season liberally with kosher salt and pepper.  Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes, until the squash is nearly tender.  Add in the kale pieces, cover, and simmer another 10-15 minutes.  Taste, and season as needed with salt and pepper.  Ladle into bowls, garnish with the pomegranate seeds, and serve.

Sausage and Lentil Soup with Kale and Radicchio

In a pinch last night, I stopped by the Bristol Farms grocery store randomly located in the Westfield Shopping Center, one of San Francisco’s largest shopping malls.  It’s nice that they have a grocer in the mall, in the middle of downtown, because if you’re in the area running errands (or having your teeth cleaned, like I was yesterday), you can just swing by and pick up what you need.  I guess a mall grocer sells far more energy drinks and snacks than anything else, because I noticed they’ve really downsized the produce section and meat counter since the last time I was there (which was months ago…).  I had planned on making lamb chops with risotto and grilled radicchio for dinner, but they didn’t have any lamb.  Instead, I found some very good sausages and made a favorite standby: lentil and sausage soup.  I’m pretty sure I might’ve written a recipe for this soup before, but I’m always changing it up based on what we have in the house and my own inspiration.  This variety, which uses both Beluga and French green lentils, was absolutely delicious.  Joe said he was glad the store didn’t have lamb chops–which is a huge compliment coming from him, the world’s biggest lamb lover.  He doesn’t have a middle name, but I say it should be “Gyro.”  Or “Reuben.”  But that’ll be another post.

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 links good quality fresh pork sausage, preferably a variety flavored with garlic and wine, cut on the bias into 1″ slices
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced medium
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium leek, white and light green parts chopped finely
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 cups dry red wine
• 1 3/4 quarts vegetable stock
• 1 cup Beluga lentils, washed and picked over
• 1/2 cup French green lentils, washed and picked over
• 1 small head purple radicchio, cored and cut into ribbons
• 3 cups chopped dinosaur kale
• – kosher salt and pepper

In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering.  Add in the sausage pieces and brown on all sides.  Remove the meat to a separate bowl and set aside.

Add the onions, leeks and garlic to the pan, stirring to coat them with fat.  Season with black pepper.  Once the alliums are just translucent, add in the tomato paste, and stir again to incorporate.  Pour in the wine, and reduce for 1 minute.  Add in the vegetable stock, season liberally with salt and simmer for 20 minutes.  Next, add in the lentils and simmer for another 10 minutes.  Pile in the radicchio and kale, and use a spoon to help push them underneath the hot liquid.  Simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes.  Season to taste.  The soup should be thick, the lentils tender, and the greens cooked through.  If you’d like, garnish with a bit of parmesan cheese.  Otherwise, ladle into bowls, and serve with good, crusty bread, like a batard.

But earlier this week, even before the enchiladas and our new president (!), I made a meal completely evocative of fall, and of my childhood: grilled pork chops with mustard sauce and roasted acorn squash.  My mother used to make that exact dinner when I was a kid, except her approach was a bit more minimalist.  She liked thinner cut shoulder chops, and would broil them with nothing more than a bit of salt and pepper.  The squash was cooked in the microwave.

I told her about this dinner a few nights ago, during one of our bi-weekly chats.  “Hmm,” she said greedily, thinking over the components of the meal in her mind, “I sure wish I could’ve been there.”

Me too, mama.

For the chops:

• 1 1/2 quarts water
• 1 cup kosher salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• toasted mustard seeds
• small bunch of thyme
• several grinds of black pepper
• 2 bone-in center cut pork chops, from a reputable farmer, cut about 1.5-inches thick (double cut chops will also work fine)

In a medium sauce pan, combine the water, salt, sugar, herbs and spices.  Bring to a simmer then remove from heat, stirring to dissolve the salt and sugar.  Allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes so that the herbs and spices can steep in the liquid.  Pour into a heat proof dish (large enough to hold the chops later on), and cool completely in the refrigerator.  This can be done well in advance of your dinner.

Once the brine is completely cooled, nestle the chops into the liquid so that they are submerged.  Allow to soak for at least 5 hours, preferably longer (overnight is great).

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Remove the chops from the brine, and pat dry with a paper towel.  Heat a grill pan over medium to medium high heat for 5 to 8 minutes, until it is screaming hot.  Brush the pan lightly with canola oil, if it is not well seasoned.  Grill the chops, 5 minutes on each side and transfer to a clean baking dish — this well help from the oil splattering all over your oven and causing smoke.  Finish roasting the chops in the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes, or a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat registers 140 degrees.  Remove from the oven and tent with foil until you are ready to serve.  Serve with mustard sauce and roasted acorn squash.

For the mustard sauce:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 4 sprigs of thyme, leaves removed and minced
• 2 tbsp AP flour
• 2 tbsp good dijon mustard, more to taste
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
• – kosher salt and pepper

In a small sauce pan, heat the olive oil until shimmering.  Saute the garlic and the thyme in the oil until both are fragrant and the garlic is just starting to turn golden.  Add in the flour, and whisk until the roux thickens and stops bubbling.  Add the mustard, and whisk to incorporate.  Pour in the wine, continuing to whisk so that all the ingredients come together.  It should look like a thick paste.  Add in the vegetable stock, whisk again, and bring to a simmer to thicken.  Season to taste with kosher salt and pepper, adding more vegetable stock if you’d like a thinner sauce.

For the acorn squash:

• 1 medium sized acorn squash
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• water
• –kosher salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Using a heavy-duty very sharp chef’s knife, halve the squash from stem end to tip end.  Use a spoon to scoop out all the seeds and fibrous material from the core of the squash.  Arrange the squash halves in a baking dish large enough to fit them.  Put 1 tbsp of butter and 1/4 cup of brown sugar into each core.  Fill the baking dish itself with 1/4-inch of water.  This will help prevent the squash from burning to the bottom of the pan or drying out.  Season the squash with salt and pepper to taste, and roast until tender, about an hour.

The brine ingredients get ready for a steep.

Into the cooled brine they go!

Squash prep.