Mexican Squash Soup with Lime Crema

This recipe is inspired by a bowl of squash soup I had on a blustery day at Barrio. Any kind of orange squash is fine for this: pumpkin, delicata, kabocha, acorn or butternut. In a pinch, canned pumpkin puree gives an acceptable result.

I use El Guapo brand New Mexico chili powder, widely available in Hispanic markets and better stocked national chains. If using a spicier chili powder adjust red chili flakes accordingly or ormit altogether.


Ingredients

2 or 3 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
1 small or half large yellow onion, quartered and sliced
canola oil
1 cup vegetable broth or water
1 cup chopped tomatoes (canned is fine)
1 pound pureed orange squash or canned pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon mild New Mexico chili powder
pinch red chili flakes

4 tablespoons cashew cream or creme fraiche
lime juice
salt

Toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas) - optional

Method:

Roast the garlic in tin foil in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Peel.

Saute the onion in the oil until translucent.

Put the garlic, onions, tomatoes, broth or water, in blender or food processor and process until the mixture is well combined but still has some texture. Pour the mixture into a saucepan, add the pumpkins puree and stir until well combined. Add the chili powder and chili flakes. Bring to a simmer and simmer for about ten minutes.

Meanwhile make the crema by combining the cashew cream or creme fraiche, lime juice and salt to taste. Stir until thoroughly combined.

Serve the soup hot, garnished with the crema and optional pepitas.

Makes four servings.


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Carrot Ginger Soup with Curry Leaves and Cumin Seed

2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ teaspoon asafoetida
1 tablespoon cumin seed
1 ounce ginger, peeled and chopped
5 cups of water or vegetable broth
1 pound of carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
Generous pinch red pepper flakes
6 cardamom pods
15 curry leaves


Put the oil in a stockpot and heat until almost smoking. Add asafoetida and cook 30 seconds, then add the cumin seed and cook, stirring, until the seeds are evenly golden brown – 30 seconds to a minute. Add the ginger and cook until fragrant. Immediately add the water or broth to keep the mix from burning.

Add the carrots, salt, pepper flakes, cardamom and curry leaves. Bring the pot to a simmer and cook until the carrots are very soft, 20 to 30 minutes.

Allow the soup to cool enough to handle. Remove the cardamom pods (just like a surgeon with clamps and sponges – count ‘em going in, count ‘em coming out). Puree the soup in batches in a blender. Taste for seasoning and correct as necessary.

Reheat the soup and serve. Like almost all soups, this tastes better if made a day ahead reheated.


Serves four.

Avocado Buttermilk Soup

This is quick, easy and delicious -- a great soup for when the weather is hot. Makes a wonderful light meal accompanied by a salad and a baguette, or an elegant starter. Quantities can be multiplied, although for very large quantities you'll need to blend it in batches. This soup can be made ahead and kept chilled in the refrigerator. If you do this, bring it to near room temperature -- that is slightly chilled not cold -- before serving.

1 avocado, peeled, coarsely chopped
2 small cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup of buttermilk, or more to taste
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lime juice
chives for garnish

Combine all ingredients except the chives in a blender and process until everything is smooth and well incorporated, scraping down the sides with a spatula as necessary. If the soup is thicker than you would like, thin with additional buttermilk.

Pour into indivual bowls and garnish with chives. I think zest of lemon and/or lime would be a nice garnish as well, and next time I make this I want to see how it is with a bit of pimenton as a garnish.

The quantities given here make enough soup for two to three people.

Sonoran Cheese Soup - Caldo de Queso de Sonora

Photo by Greg Bryan, Arizona Daily Star.

Yesterday's Arizona Star had a feature on Mexican cheeses that included a recipe for Caldo de Queso (inexplicably titled Caldo con Queso) from Adolfo Cabrera, executive chef at the Doubletree Inn in Tucson. Caldo de Queso is a Sonoran specialty, and I found several recipes online from Sonoran cooks. The recipe that follows is my adaptation of these.

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 red or white boiling potatoes, 3/4" pieces
1 white onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1-1/2 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
6 cups of vegetable broth
1 cup of tomatoes, diced
1 cup of roasted Anaheim peppers, diced
1 large or two small ears of corn, cut in 1" slices
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons butter
red pepper flakes to taste (optional)
1/2 cup milk, half and half or cream
8 ounces queso fresco, diced
8 ounces queso panela, diced
salt and pepper to taste

For garnish:
tortilla triangles
cilantro leaves

In a non-stick pan, saute the potatoes in half the olive oil until they are lightly brown, but not fully cooked. Set aside.

Add the rest of the oil to the pan and saute the onion, carrot and celery until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and oregano and saute a couple of minutes longer.

In a stockpot, combine the sauteed vegetables, the vegetable broth, the reserved potatoes, the tomatoes and peppers and simmer until the potatoes are nearly done. Add the corn and simmer a minute more.

Meanwhile, in a clean, dry pan, toast the flour until it is lightly golden brown. Add the butter and cook until it is melted and mixed well with the flour. With a spatula, scrape this mixture into the stock pot (along with the optional red pepper flakes) and simmer for five minutes.

Add the milk and cheeses and simmer two minutes, or until fully heated through. Garnish with tortilla triangles and cilantro. Serve with hot tortillas or French bread.

Bittman's Zuppa Arcidossana

In today's Minimalist column, Mark Bittman has a terrific sounding recipe for Zuppa Arcidossana.

I see a couple of ways to make this into a vegetarian recipe. You could replace the four ounces of sausage with vegetarian sausage. Or you could just omit sausage altogether and season the soup with sausage seasoning -- fennel seed, marjoram, thyme, nutmeg, red pepper flakes. You could substitute four ounces of garbanzo or white beans for the sausage and also add sausage seasoning. Or, as Bittman suggests in the video, you could simply leave out the sausage.