Butternut Squash Soup

I had two butternut squash from the CSA that have been sitting around, waiting for me to deal with them. I've had plans for those two squash, including butternut squash soup, butternut squash risotto, and roasted butternut squash. I tackled the soup recipe today, which involved sauteing some shallots in butter.
An unusual aspect of this recipe (from Cook's Illustrated), involves sauteing the seeds and stringy fibres from the squash as well. Then, water is added to this mixture.
The butternut squash is then steamed (that's a steamer basket hiding underneath all that squash) with the liquid that contains the butter, shallots, seeds and fibres. Once the squash is tender, the steamer basket is removed from the pot and the squash is allowed to cool down, after which the flesh is scooped out. The steaming liquid is strained to remove the seeds and string.

Then the strained liquid and steamed squash are pureed together (this was the easiest step for me, because I have my wonderful immersion blender) and cream, brown sugar and salt are added.
And here I have a huge pot of butternut squash soup - it's a good thing that W adores butternut squash. This soup is tremendously comforting, especially since the apartment is rather chilly. I really like how it turned out. I used light cream, instead of the heavy cream called for in the recipe. Perhaps it wasn't as creamy as it might have been, but I actually like the lighter flavour and thinner consistency. Next time, I might try throwing in a few sprigs of fresh thyme, which would get strained out with the seeds.