Kesher Talk

A bit late but bookmark it for next year. Judith's squash soup with red pepper aioli, served in Austin TX, Thanksgiving 2003:

This soup can be made meat, dairy, or pareve. The amounts given here makes enough for 10 people to have one bowl each with some left over to freeze or give guests to take home.

Place in the bottom of your soup pot or in a large sautee pan 1/2 stick butter or margarine or olive oil. I prefer butter but use one of the others if you need to keep the soup non-dairy:

Chop into 1" chunks and add:
3 large yellow onions
1 head celery
3 parsnips, peeled
Chop fine and add:
1 large root fresh ginger, peeled
Sautee to soften, allow to mush together as much as you want - all will be pureed eventually.

Take 2-3 medium squash (butternut, delicata, acorn, or something in that family - not zucchini or spagetti squash) and poke 4-5 holes in each one, then microwave for 10-15 minutes to soften. Then cut open, remove fibrous pulp, seeds, and rind, chop into 1" chunks and add to soup pot.

Simmer till mushy, add soup broth to liquify (use chicken or vegetable broth as desired, not beef). This will be a puree so don't make too liquid. You can always add more later.

Season cautiously with soy sauce, Chinese 5-spice, cinnamon, and/or nutmeg. You don't want the soup tasting like a pumpkin pie, and you want the squash, ginger, and parsnip flavor to come through, so be careful.

When all ingredients are soft and cooked, let cool. Puree in blender or food processor with 1 brick soft tofu until creamy with no lumps. Add soup broth as needed. Ideally, let sit in the fridge for a day or two. Before serving, add seasoning if needed.

Make the aioli the day you will be serving the soup:
Put through garlic press or peel and chop fine 1/3 - 1/2 head of garlic.
Sautee in 1/4 cup olive oil until soft but not brown
Puree in blender or food processor with:
4-5 roasted sweet red peppers, either fresh or from a jar (do not add the juice from the jar)
fresh ground black pepper to taste
add olive oil to taste and for creamy consistency and balance of flavors
Refrigerate if you will not be serving it within 2 hours.

The final soup should be creamy pale orange, and the aioli should be bright red-orange.

Serve soup either hot or cold, depending on the season. Serve aioli at room temperature in a separate bowl for guests to swirl into their soup to taste, or you can swirl the aioli into each bowl ahead of time, in a pretty pattern.

Spicy Southwestern variation: Slice open 1-2 chipotle peppers, discard seeds. Sautee in butter or olive oil until very soft and the butter has taken the chipotle flavor. Scrape remaining flesh from skins and discard skins. Add chipotle butter to soup. WARNING: A little chipotle goes a long way; you just want to add a smoky background note, not overwhelm the other ingredients.

I have served this soup on a number of occasions, both hot and cold, and the flavor and presentation always get raves. Tune in at Hanukkah for my borscht recipe.

posted by Judith @ 11/28/2003 11:59:14 AM