The Pamplemousse Grill in Solana Beach, Calif., provides a variety of soup choices for the holiday season, including its "Roasted Pumpkin and Butternut Squash." Photo by David Brooks. | Soup to Conquer
By Lori Weisberg
As the pre-eminent cooking day of the year approaches, thoughts -- and high anxiety -- inevitably turn to the star attraction, the turkey. But wait. Hold those thoughts, and focus instead on creating a stellar starter that could easily distinguish your Thanksgiving Day meal from the truly ordinary and mundane.
Sure, everyone expects the customary stuffing, potatoes and cranberry sauce, but why not begin the meal with a comforting, silken bisque that takes advantage of the plentiful squash in markets this time of year? Swirl in a little browned butter and accent your soup with a dollop of creme fraiche and toasted pumpkin seeds, and you'll have yourself a crowd-pleaser that will comfortably ease your guests' way into the heavier platters of food that await them.
While Thanksgiving is a wonderful excuse to catch the soup-making fever, the chill of fall and winter provide easy inspiration for transforming any medley of vegetables, herbs and broth into a side dish or main course worthy of a restaurant chef's creation.
Carl Schroeder, owner of the highly regarded Market Restaurant in Del Mar, is so enamored with soups that he personally oversees the preparation of them rather than delegate the task to a sous chef or line cook.
"For Thanksgiving, I think soup is such a great lead-in, the steam coming off it, the way the smell fills the room, the ritual of eating the soup," said Schroeder, his voice growing more rapturous as he envisions a Thai-style concoction of curried kabocha squash, enhanced with a lemon grass stalk broth, garlic, shallots, ginger, green onion and coconut milk. "Everyone gets a kabocha soup facial as they're leaning over the bowl.
"There are so many flavors blended together I can take all those flavors and create exactly the mood I'd like."
Cookbook author Anna Thomas, known best for her groundbreaking vegetarian tome of the 1970s, "Vegetarian Epicure," and now out with a book devoted to soup-making, loves the idea of beginning the Thanksgiving supper with a steaming bowl of richly flavored soup.
She, too, favors a preparation that relies on squash, although in combination with celery root, turnips and leeks. But why not be adventuresome, she suggests, and try an autumn-colored persimmon soup, garnished with tamari-roasted walnuts?
"Let's face it, most people do a very traditional turkey dinner and things their family will demand, but soup and dessert are areas where you can do other things, and they'll be delicious and exciting," said Thomas, whose recently published "Love Soup" is a compendium of some 100 soup recipes, plus various accompaniments, such as whole wheat walnut bread and eggplant and roasted garlic pesto.
"Soup is really the original comfort food, one of the first foods we ate as babies and toddlers. And for those people who've only had canned soup, it's like you've only had phone sex. It's not the real thing at all."
One point to keep in mind about homemade soup is that it is so much more than the sum of its parts. Sure, if it's simplicity you're after, you can opt for a one-pot preparation, but tossing all the ingredients in a stockpot and then simmering them until tender would be to miss out on the rich flavors and subtle complexities that come from roasting and sauteing vegetables until they're a deep golden brown.
Thomas loves the idea of slowly sauteing onions with olive oil for a long time until they're transformed into the consistency of marmalade. The same goes for roasting vegetables like squash, eggplant and root vegetables such as turnips and celery root.
"Toss them with a little olive oil and sea salt, go do homework with the kids, and these vegetables roast and get dark edges and become soft inside and develop a depth and sweetness of flavor."
That said, soup can still be an uncomplicated endeavor that Thomas hopes will be the key to rediscovering the lost art of home cooking. There are recipes in her book for soups with as few as four or five ingredients, including old-fashioned split pea, summer tomato or lima bean soup perfumed with garlic, rosemary and red onion.
"Soup in the fridge is like money in the bank," says Thomas. "You can make that soup whenever you have a little time, and you can have a satisfying meal on the table for those intensely busy times when you don't have a lot of time. And the great thing about a homemade soup is it's so easy. It's not complicated cooking."
While it's always preferable to use a homemade chicken or vegetable broth, culinary professionals say don't let that extra task stand in your way. Swanson's vegetable broth, says Thomas, is a perfectly suitable substitute for the real deal.
Soups typically fall into two categories: hearty, rustic preparations in which the ingredients are simmered together but remain separate and distinct within the broth and pureed soups, which typically have a more elegant feel and are silky smooth in texture.
A sturdy blender and strainer are a must for ensuring your pureed soup is free of any little bits of chopped vegetable. Some cooks swear by handheld immersion blenders that allow you to puree the soup directly in the pot in which it was simmered.
Chef-owner Jeffrey Strauss of the Pamplemousse Grille in Solana Beach recommends taking advantage of the diversity of the region's herbs to enhance the flavor of your soup.
"Here in San Diego, you have so many fresh herbs all year long. Tarragon works so well in many soups. And remember to finish your soup with the herbs in cheesecloth, rather than simmer with them."
Many cooks like to finish pureed soups with a bit of whipping cream or half-and-half, but Schroeder wonders why you'd add something that diminishes the healthfulness of soup, which already is rich and creamy.
"I think it's kind of a cop-out adding cream to soup," said Schroeder. "The squash, for example, is already thick and rich and delicious, and when you add cream, that fat sits on your palate and doesn't allow the full flavor of the product to develop."
Do think carefully, though, about the garnishes you add to transform a simple bisque into a flavorful, eye-popping presentation. As Thomas notes, the possibilities are endless, from herbed croutons and toasted pine nuts to a simple drizzle of a fruity olive oil.
Chances are by the final bite of pumpkin pie, your most lasting memory may well be that velvety soup that started the whole meal.
----
ROASTED SUGAR BABY PUMPKIN AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH
1 sugar baby pumpkin
2 butternut squash Vegetable oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions
1�4 cup chopped fresh ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1�2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 quarts chicken stock
1 cup carrot juice
1 1�2 cups heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Makes 12 servings
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut pumpkin and squash in half lengthwise, and remove seeds. Brush both with vegetable oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place on a baking sheet, cut side up. Roast for 30 to 40 minutes, until the tops have a nice caramel color. Remove from oven, and allow to cool. Then scoop out the roasted meat, cut into cubes, and set aside.
In a saucepan, heat olive oil and sweat the onions and ginger until translucent.
Then add squash, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar and lemon zest. Cook over medium heat for five minutes, stirring the whole time with a wooden spoon. Add remaining ingredients, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Puree mixture in stages in a blender and strain. Return to heat and adjust seasoning.
-- Pamplemousse Grille
----
Lori Weisberg writes about food for The San Diego Union-Tribune.
----
COPYRIGHT 2009 THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment