By Julie Cross

Serve this with garlic bread or cheese toast and a green salad.

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups pureed squash or pumpkin
  • 6 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • 3 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 cup heavy cream (or substitute)
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
  • kosher salt to taste
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 firm pears

Putting it together:

  1. Slice onions and pears as thinly as possible. Cook onions in oil over medium heat until golden. Add pears and continue cooking until tender.
  2. Heat broth. Scoop out insides of squash and squeeze garlic out of head. Using a potato masher, electric mixer or stick blender, beat cream into squash mixture. Slowly stir in vegetable broth. Add nutmeg, lemon rind, and salt to taste. Spoon into bowls and garnish with pear/onion mixture.
  3. Coconut milk or soaked pureed blanched almonds are excellent substitutes for cream in this dish.

— Julie Cross has left the restaurant world, but will always want to have fun with food — email her at jacross@dcn.org or follow her on Facebook and Instagram at Julie Cross Cooks.

Crossposted from the Davis Enterprise

Published online October 16, 2018
Printed October 17, 2018 edition page B3