Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut squash. Some love it, others can’t stand it. The dictionary will tell you that butternut squash is a popular winter squash producing a bell-shaped fruit with sweet orange-yellow flesh. For those falling into the ‘can’t stand it’ group, some might guess that they haven’t been treated to the fruit’s marvelous versatility. Depending on the mood, butternut squash can be roasted, toasted, mashed, used in casseroles, breads and muffins or puréed for soups; it can be grilled or stuffed with a variety of ingredients.

   

Squash has been around for a very long time, found even in the tombs of ancient Egypt. A staple for Native Americans for more than 5000 years, it became a dietary mainstay for early Europeans who settled in America. But the story is a little different for butternut squash. The man who reportedly first developed this variety of squash was Charles A. Leggett, neither farmer nor scientist but an insurance man living in Waltham, Massachusetts. He began with a small garden in the late 1930s but it wasn’t until the mid 1940s that he developed the strain we call butternut squash. Basically, Leggett’s focus was on a crossing of the gooseneck squash with a variety called the Hubbard squash—another winter squash but with a green or yellow skin and hard-to-cut flesh. During the years of 1942-45 Leggett faced some challenges, but finally satisfied, he took his squash to the Waltham agricultural field station to show scientists there what he’d developed. They were delighted with the new variety of squash and asked Leggett to come up with a name for it. Feeling the squash was “smooth as butter and sweet as a nut,” Leggett decided to call it butternut squash.

I owe my fondness for butternut squash to my good friend K, who introduced it to me in a version she calls five-star squash using the Chinese inspired Five Star Powder, a combination of fennel seeds, star anise, ginger, cloves and cinnamon. Without doubt a mix that ignites an eye-opening jolt of the exotic, but not really a flavor that anyone would condemn as weird and foreign. But let’s expand the exotic by imagining butternut squash in a soup with curry. Those who like curry and eat it on occasion have probably already figured out that the flavor derives from a blend of turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, and fenugreek, all made pungent by the addition of ginger, chili, and pepper. It only gets better with the addition of butternut squash.

CURRIED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped (about 2 cups)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 butternut squash (2½ pounds), peeled, seeded and cubed*

6 cups chicken broth

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon curry powder

½ teaspoon salt, more to taste

2 tablespoons honey

4 teaspoons plain low-fat yogurt for garnish

*Peeling a butternut squash, removing the seeds and cubing it is a troublesome task. An easier method is to use Marketside Butternut Squash in the 12 ounce bag. It comes ready to use without the hassle of wrestling with a whole squash. Two of the 12 ounce bags is sufficient.

Putting it all together

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a 6-quart stockpot. Add onions and garlic and sauté until soft but not brown—6 or 7 minutes. Add the butternut squash, chicken broth, curry powder and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until squash is tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the honey and puree in a blender (in batches) until smooth. Season with salt to taste. Ladle into serving bowls and add a swirl of yogurt as garnish.

Serve it with some warm French bread and a green salad. Family and guests will be wowed.

The Blessing of Barley

Barley has been an important food crop for the last 10,000 years. The Bible includes barley among the seven blessings that characterized the fertility of the Promised Land. Barley beer is thought to be the first drink developed by neolithic humans. The grain was even used as currency at one time. As the staple cereal of ancient Egypt, it was used to make bread and beer. Nearly half the barley grown in the US today is used in making beer. The other half is used for animal feed, with a small portion going toward human consumption—primarily beef barley soup. For those looking to add some fiber to the diet, barley is the grain that will do it. It has three times the fiber of brown rice, or blueberries, and more than twice the amount in wholewheat spaghetti or an apple.

The word ‘restaurant’ was first used in France in the sixteenth century to describe a richly concentrated, inexpensive soup sold by street vendors and advertised as an antidote to physical exhaustion. In 1765, a Parisian entrepreneur opened a shop specializing in such soups and from that time ‘restaurant’ began to be attached to shops selling soup. From that grew the custom of calling all eating establishments restaurants.

Most of us think of beef barley soup as something best enjoyed in either autumn or winter. It would be premature to call mid-September in Florida autumn, but it is true that the hotter temperatures have begun to slacken, and that might encourage some to say that autumn is just around the corner. Two or three weeks back a recipe for beef mushroom barley soup came to me from a friend, and eager to try it I made a big pot of this ‘autumn’ soup. Though it turned out good, it was deemed a practice run with the promise of being a little tastier next time around. That time came on Saturday. Here is a recipe for beef mushroom barley soup with a richness that may even match the soups from street vendors in France centuries ago.

BEEF MUSHROOM BARLEY SOUP

What you will need:

2 tablespoons, plus 1 additional teaspoon vegetable oil

1 ½ pounds of short ribs and 3 small soup bones

3 carrots, diced

½ of a large onion, diced

2 ribs celery, diced

½ tsp dried thyme

12 oz bottle of beer

8 cups beef broth

1/3 cup pearl barley, rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes (14-15 ounces)

1 tablespoon butter

¾ pound mushrooms, quartered

3 tablespoons minced parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Heat a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil. Season the meat generously with salt and pepper. Sear the meat on all sides until well browned—about 15 minutes. Remove the meat from the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and add the additional teaspoon of oil, carrots, onion, and celery and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Return the meat to the pan and add the beer and broth. Bring to a boil, adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer, cover and cook for 1 ½ hours or until the meat is tender. Remove the meat and take it off the bone. Shred it or cut it and return to the pot. Remove the soup bones and discard. Add the thyme, barley, and tomato. Continue to simmer the soup covered for 45 minutes.

During the last 15 minutes of simmering, in a separate pan heat the butter over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté until golden, about 10 minutes. Season to taste and add them to the soup. Simmer the soup for 15 minutes more. Skim any fat from the surface, add the parsley and adjust the seasoning to taste.

Because it is hearty soup and quite filling, your table will be complete with a green salad and a warm loaf of French bread. Bon appétit!