Chef Bryan Calvert shares recipe for blue Hubbard squash soup

Chef Bryan Calvert recommends using a baby blue Hubbard squash for a stovetop soup that pairs the vegetable's sweet orange flesh with crisp pears and salty blue cheese.

The recipe, excerpted from Calvert's 2016 cookbook 'Brooklyn Rustic,' serves four to six people. It calls for half a baby blue Hubbard squash, or one large butternut squash, along with two celery stalks, one large shallot, and one small garlic clove.

Cooking instructions direct the chef to melt four tablespoons of unsalted butter over medium-low heat. The cook sautes the diced celery, shallot, and chopped garlic until the shallot becomes translucent. The squash and two tablespoons of dry white wine are added next, cooking until the wine has mostly evaporated, which takes about two minutes.

The pot then receives two quarts of vegetable or chicken stock, one thyme sprig, and one bay leaf. The heat raises to medium, bringing the mixture to a low simmer. The vegetables cook until tender, a process that requires 35 to 40 minutes. Meanwhile, the recipe calls for coring a red Bartlett pear and slicing it into 2-inch matchsticks. These slices toss with vinegar, honey, two tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, and a pinch of salt.

The finished soup purees in a blender until smooth and creamy, often requiring multiple batches. The cook adjusts the consistency with additional stock if needed and seasons the mixture with fine sea salt and freshly ground white pepper. The final dish ladles into warm bowls or a tureen, garnished with four ounces of crumbled blue cheese and the pickled pears.

Calvert notes that the soup freezes well, making it easy to use a whole squash and double the recipe for a large batch. He describes the Hubbard squash as a beautiful blue winter squash that grows fairly enormous and unwieldy, which is why a smaller variety works best for this specific preparation.

Calvert ran James restaurant on a residential corner of Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, from 2008 to 2013. Before that tenure, he cooked for years in fine restaurants. His work at James became synonymous with new Brooklyn dining. He is also a co-founder of Cecil & Merl, a national brand of artisanal home and kitchen goods.