Butternut squash soup

I haven't been posting for a while on this blog due to a demanding graduate school schedule; but a dear friend of mine is joining the world of vegetarian cooking. I thought this would be a good opportunity to get back to food by posting one favourite all vegetable recipe a week. This recipe comes from Robert McGrath's American Western Cooking. Happy cooking.

not my picture

1 1/2 cups peeled, seeded, butternut squash, cut in halves

1 Tbs. dark chile powder

kosher salt

fresh cracked black pepper

water (to spin the squash in the blender)

2 Tbs. vegetable or canola oil

1/2 cup diced yellow onion

2 Tbs. toasted, seeded, and finely chopped Chile Ancho

2 cups vegetable or chicken broth

1/2 cup roasted garlic puree

This can be roasted at the same time as the squash. Simply wrap a head of garlic in foil. It is finished when soft and should take approximately 30 minutes.

1 tsp. toasted and ground cumin seed

Heat a clean dry skillet over high heat. Add the cumin seeds and stir them constantly until you can smell them - about 1 minute. Take them out of the pan and set aside.

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Season the squash with the chile powder, salt and pepper. Roast the squash, seed side down on an oiled aluminum covered sheet pan. The squash is done when the thickest part can be easily pierced with a fork - about 35 minutes. Remove the squash and allow it to cool to room temperature. Scoop out the flesh and puree in a blender with just enough water to spin the squash, season to taste with salt and pepper. The soup can be done to this point the day before, if you like. In a soup pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Saute the diced onion and chile ancho until just tender. Add the squash puree, broth, roasted garlic puree, ground cumin and cayenne pepper. Allow the soup to simmer slowly until it has reduced in volume by 1/4. Puree the soup in a traditional blender or with a handheld immersion blender. Finish with 1/2 cup of cream and season it to taste with salt and pepper.

Soup a L'oignon

It is cold again up here. I suppose that is when I like to cook most. And when we found Gruyere cheese for sale at Whole Foods we had to make French onion soup. The recipe is from Julia Child and it is very easy aside from the time it takes to actually cook. I encourage you to try it. It was the best French onion soup I've ever had.

1 1/2 pounds yellow onions (or 4 large)

3 tbs. butter

1 tbs. oil

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

3 tbs. flour

1 qt. stock (beef or chicken)

1 qt. water

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 oz. cognac or brandy

old bread (I recommend a nice crusty sourdough loaf)

1 cup grated Gruyere cheese

*please, go out and find Gruyere. It must say "Gruyere" - don't use anything else.

Chop the onions in thin strips. I halve and peel them, then simply slice them so they make little half moons. Melt the butter and oil in a heavy bottomed stock pot, add the onions and cook on low for 15 minutes with the cover on.

Uncover, raise the heat to medium, add salt and sugar, and cook the onions for 30-40 minutes. You will need to stir them every so often. And I encourage you not to have the heat too high. You are slowly developing color at this point not sprinting for the caramelized finish.

While the onions brown heat up your water and stock. You want to add it to the stock pot when it is boiling so as not to arrest the cooking process. If you have any beef stock to hand, I recommend it rather than chicken as it adds more color and flavour to the soup.

When the onions are a nice golden color, and the stock is hot (but not yet added); sprinkle the 3 tbs. flour over the onions and stir frequently for 3 minutes. Now it is time to add the stock - boiling hot mind you to prevent flour clumps from forming. And I recommend initially adding a cupful at a time and stirring it well. Once you think the flour has been incorporated - pour in the remaining stock. Add the white wine and bring the soup to a low simmer and cook partially covered for another 30-40 minutes.

Grate your cheese and cut a 1/4 inch slice of sourdough for each soup bowl. Find oven safe bowls and turn on your broiler. Taste your soup first, and add any extra salt if necessary. Ladle it into the bowls. You can under fill it so that you don't have the hazard of burning yourself with boiling hot soup. I left a good three quarters of an inch. Plonk your bread slice on top and smother the soup with gruyere.

Place the bowls on a tray under the broiler and crack the oven door so that you can watch them. The cheese will first melt, the it will begin to bubble. You may wish to gingerly slide out the tray and check for browning; but it could take a good five or ten minutes. If the soup is browning unevenly, rotate the bowls on the tray.

We served the bowls on plates so that we didn't have to worry about scorching ourselves.

Enjoy!

Tuscan Chickpea Soup

It really can't get any easier than this. This soup takes about 30 minutes from start to eating. It has relatively few ingredients so the focus is on buying the best you can afford.

Tuscan Chickpea Soup
1/4 oz. pancetta, medium dice
2 Tbs. evoo
1 onion, peeled, medium dice
4 cloves garlic, peeled, rough chopped
2 celery stalks, medium dice
6 sage leaves
1 quart chicken stock
1 14oz. can diced tomatoes
1 14oz. can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
salt and pepper
really good olive oil (not meant for cooking but for eating raw)

*Notes on substitution: You can substitute bacon, but pancetta is the best option. It is unsmoked, and usually of a higher quality that most supermarket bacon. The pancetta will render lots of gorgeous fat into the soup that gives it a wonderful mouth feel.
Strangely, pancetta and sage seem to be seasonal - at least in Arizona. I made this soup last night and found it impossible to locate either item at the local shops. I did use bacon (shock, horror); and found that rosemary made a good change from the sage. However, because rosemary is stronger in flavour I only used three 3 inch clippings from our plant in the backyard.

On medium heat warm the evoo (extra virgin olive oil) add the pancetta and render the fat before adding the celery, garlic, sage and onion. Allow the veg to sweat and soften for about 15 minutes. They will color a little, but I found this is a lot of food for my stockpot and the crowding lowered the temperature and let the vegetables get steamy. This is okay.
Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, and chicken stock to the soup and allow everything to heat through - about 10 minutes. Viola! (I said it was easy.) Season to taste with kosher salt and please, freshy cracked pepper.
Eat the soup with crusty bread and a good drizzle of the olive oil overtop. We also sprinkled our bowls with strips of proscuitto we had languishing in our refrigerator.

Wonton Soup

I was craving wonton soup last week. But what began as an intended trip to PF Chang's quickly degenerated into ordering delivery pizza. This week now that Tyler is back from vacation, I have cleaned up my act. Starting with the wonton soup I made last night. The recipe is from a supplemental recipe book I received with my Saveur subscription.

Wonton Soup

4 cups chicken broth
1 half inch piece of ginger, sliced
4 scallions rough cut, whites only

Combine in a pot and bring to a simmer on medium high. Reduce heat and cook for 30 minutes. Remove solids when finished and hold broth on a low burner to keep warm.

1 head bok choy, washed and chopped in bite sized pieces

Cook bok choy in a large pot of boiling water until tender 3-5 minutes. I typically trim the stems at the base of the leaf.

1/4 pound shrimp, shelled, deveined and chopped
2 oz. ground pork
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. cornstarch
Wonton wrappers

Combine the sesame oil and soy sauce. Add cornstarch and mix until it dissolves. Fold in the raw meat until evenly combined. To make wontons, work on a clean surface with a small bowl of water nearby. Place a wrapper flour side down on the surface with the point towards you, so it looks like a diamond. Place a small amount of the filling in the middle of the wrapper 1 to 1 1/2 tsp. Wet the top 2 edges of the wrapper then press them together with the bottom 2 edges. The wonton should now be triangle shaped. Wet the left and right hand corners of the triangle and bring them together pinching lightly. They should look like little tortellini. Cook the wonton in boiling water in batches of 4 or 5. When they are done, they will float.

Place wontons in the bottom of the soup bowl, add some bok choy, and ladle the hot broth on top. Use fresh chopped scallions to garnish.