RCP: Squash soup

This proved to be a wonderfully elegant, delicious soup -- two fundamental ingredients with lots of scope for enhancements.

Bake four acorn squash cut in half for half an hour at 350F after removing the pulp and seeds. Scoop the flesh out of the skins and puree in a food processor with a pint of chicken stock and two tablespoons of candied ginger.

Simmer on low heat for ten to fifteen minutes.

A nice side: saute the seeds and pulp in olive oil for fifteen minutes on low.

Imagination can enhance the dish, although my main customer loves it just as it is: light or heavy cream, bacon bits, pumpkin seeds, roasted or raw, etc. etc.

Bob, do you saute the pulp as it comes from the squash? Or is there some prep involved. I have toasted seeds before, but only after the tedious process of cleaning all of the pulp away.

[Jenise]

Bob, do you saute the pulp as it comes from the squash? Or is there some prep involved. I have toasted seeds before, but only after the tedious process of cleaning all of the pulp away.

Ditto--I'm very curious about this process. Tell us more, Bob!

But about squash soups: butternut and pumpkin are also great soup squashes. A sprig of herb like thyme seasons it well, as does a little dose of good curry powder. Crumbled blue cheeses are a terrific finisher, too. Pureed squash soups are a great autumnal meal.

Mark Bittman gave the basic recipe a few days ago, with a number of suggestions for enhancements:

Garnishing the soup:
-Add 1 teaspoon of ground ginger or 1 tablespoon of finely minced fresh ginger to the simmering soup.
-Add 1 teaspoon of curry powder (and if you have it, 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric) to the simmering soup.
-Add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of allspice and 1 small grating of nutmeg to the simmering soup.
- Serve soup with slices of peeled apples that have been lightly browned in butter.
-Garnish each bowl of soup with 3 or 4 grilled, sauteed, steamed or roasted shrimp, or use crab meat or lobster meat.
-Sauté about 1 cup of sliced mushrooms in butter or oil, and add them as a garnish. Chanterelles are best, but shiitakes (remember to discard the stems) or button mushrooms are also good.
-Dice about 1 cup of the squash (you will almost always have extra, especially with pumpkin) into 1/4-inch cubes, steam until tender, and use as a garnish.
-Garnish soup with chopped chervil, chives, parsley or dill.

http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01 ... uash-soup/

A number of folks commented, raising the basic point about why you would peel the squash when roasting it added a depth of flavor and scooping it out of the roasted skins was so easy. They also suggested a number of other enhancements; the Comment section for this recipe is unusually good (and includes a nice bitch about how lazy Bittman is getting. ).

One person commented:

There’s an amazing amount of flavor in the seeds and pulp of the squash that can be easily extracted. Saute them with your onions until everything is well caramelized. Then add your stock to this mixture, simmer that for a while, and strain it back into the cooked squash. Another approach is to steam the squash, and put the seeds in the water in your steamer. This also extracts a rich smokey flavor.

I wasn't entirely sure what their technique was, but I just chopped up the seeds and pulp into a coarse dice, then sauteed in a little bit of olive oil until pulp and seeds were well carmalized. It was amazing how flavorful the pulp was.

I'm now wondering if there isn't a great deal of nutrient value in the skins of the squash. I threw them away last night, but have recently started to eat the skins of yams and sweet potatoes -- they are delicious, as good as the skins of white potatoes.

Next time!