Friday, November 28, 2014

FFwD - Béatrix`s Red Kuri Soup


Today´s recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group is „Béatrix`s Red Kuri Soup“, an elegant soup with velvety texture and creamy flavor, just perfect for this time of year.




Squashes and pumpkins belong to the same family as cucumbers, melons, marrows and courgettes (zucchini). There is really an amazing variety of sizes, shapes and colors, and although most are edible, some are used for decoration only. All squashes and pumpkins have a tough outer rind, an inner cavity filled with hard seeds and sweet, rich flesh with a dense, nutty and earthy flavor.

The Red Kuri squash required for this recipe is very easy to find in these parts. It seems to be omnipresent in markets and health-food stores at this time of year until the season ends in February. Depending on where you live, this squash might be called either „Hokkaido squash“ (that´s how we call it) or „Kuri squash“ (Kuri means „chestnut“ in Japanese.) The French call it „potimarron“, referring to the fact that the squash combines the flavors of pumpkin and roasted chestnuts (marrons). And there is another plus to the squash, the skin is edible.




Onto the recipe for today, this was another no-fuss soup recipe. You simply boil the deseeded and chopped, skin-on squash together with some cut-up leeks (white parts only) in milk and some water, no broth, for a good thirty minutes. Then you purée the soup until very smooth. Add sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and freshly grated nutmeg to taste and serve with topping(s) of your choice such as croutons, fried sage, sautéed chestnuts or whatever else strikes your fancy. I added a swirl of crème fraîche and dark-green roasted pumkin seeds from Styria, Austria. To roast the seeds, add a handful of pumpkin seeds to a non-stick pan, then cook for a few minutes until they become fragrant.




Dorie´s recipe renders a silky textured soup, that is delicious sprinkled with some pumpkin seeds and finished with a light swirl of crème fraîche – we really enjoyed it, it was different from the cream of Hokkaido squash soup that I usually prepare (with a bit of heat from Spanish roasted paprika). Less is often more and this seven-ingredient-recipe showcases the nutty, rich flavor of the Red Kuri squash in the best of ways – you can taste the squash as well as the hint of roasted chestnut, a flavor combination which we truly enjoyed.




To see how much the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group enjoyed this recipe, please go here.

For copyright reasons, we do not publish the recipes from the book. But you can find the recipe for “Béatrix`s Red Kuri Soup“ on pages 78-79 in Dorie Greenspan´s cookbook "Around my French Table".


30 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed this soup too. I only wish that red kuri squash were as easy to find here as it is seems to be in Germany. I served mine with toasted squash seeds too. Great idea! Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Betsy, the Red Kuri squash is the one that really is omnipresent in health food stores and markets around here - I believe one of the reasons is that people love the taste of squash and chestnuts that is has plus that the added bonus that its skin is edible.
      Glad that you enjoyed this velvety soup as well!
      Andrea

      Delete
  2. I wish I had enjoyed the combination of squash and chestnuts more. Thanks for sharing all of the names this little squash is known as.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adriana, for us it is one of those flavor combination that we absolutely adore - chestnut and squash are meant to be together it seems...

      Delete
  3. Gorgeous presentation! I love the way the colour of the pumpkin seeds complements that of the soup. This is one I'll be making again, certainly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Teresa, I was surprised at this recipe as well - it is quite different from the one I usually make and my first thought was that the milk would "dominate" the squash flavor but it didi not, its is one lovely soup.

      Delete
  4. We seem to be doing quite well lately, quite a few of these "hard to find" ingredients are not at all hard to find here. Lucky us:-) Your soup looks delicious and I wish that I had remembered to buy some pumpkin seeds, since I already know that I'm too lazy to prepare them myself. I did, however, use a little pumpkin seed oil with my second serving of soup and it was delicious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rose, we often drizzle a bit of Styrian pumpkin seed oil on our squash soups but not this time, it seemed to be quite different in taste from my usual cream of squash soup recipe so we went the pumpkin seed/crème fraîche route this time - a really enjoyable soup wasn´t it?!

      Delete
  5. What a lovely soup - simple and warming. Plus the color is lovely. I enjoy red kuri squash a lot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amy, red Kuri squash is one lovely variety of squash, it is readily available around here and we all enjoy its taste - what more cold one ask for?! Thank you for the kind comment, Amy!

      Delete
  6. Lovely soup. It looks very rich and delicious:) Have a great weekend, Andrea.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Geraldine, the red kuri squash makes for one lovely soup.

      Delete
  7. Andrea, this soup looks so creamy and beautiful. I am fond of the look topped with the pumpkin seeds and the creme fraiche. I will be keeping a lookout to find these type squash which seem to impart quite a nice flavor.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Peggy, thank you, around her we often sprinkle Styrian pumpkin seeds on our soups - it makes for a lovely and healthy topping. Then stir up some crème fraîche, and you are all set for a wonderful seasonal treat - the red kuri squash is definitely worth seeking out and trying if you can find it.

      Delete
  8. Love that sprinkled with pumpkin seeds - so pretty too!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Perfect season for this kind of soup. I have tried several squash and pumpkins, all different in taste and texture. The flaver is also different depending where they have been harvested. The skin of Hokkaidos are edible as well. Love to serve the soup like that :-) I love the beautiful pics!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Danke Wally, der Hokkaido ist mein Lieblingskürbis, aber nicht nur zum Kochen, ich backe auch gerne damit - ein wunderbares Aroma und eine absolut tolle Farbe.
      Ich wünsche euch einen schönen und besinnlichen ersten Advent,
      Andrea

      Delete
  10. Beautiful soup and those green pumpkin seeds look amazing as a garnish! Glad you all enjoyed it so much!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Katie, the green pumpkin seeds are a special kind from Styria, Austria - they are a true health food and utterly delicious - they are the ones that are used for producing that fantastic dark green pumkin seed oil.

      Delete
  11. Gorgeous, Andrea! And I thought it was going to be a "curry" soup, not having heard of the kuri squash! I bet the kids loved this! Liebe Grüße!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David, yes, the kids adored this soup and so did we - as you undoubtedly read above, "kuri" means "chestnut" in Japanese. What´s in a name?! But it is true that this squash combines the flavors of chestnuts and squash in one.

      Delete
  12. You must have had a better squash than I did because I didn't note any nuttiness. I think I would like your paprika version more sounds wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Diane, the red kuri squash/hokkaido/potimarron tastes like squash and chestnuts - no doubt about it - its is extremly versatile and very popular around these parts.

      Delete
  13. I do wish these squash were more present in the States - the creme swirl and sprinking of seeds are a lovely complement to the soup.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much, Cher - I think this squash is becoming more popular around the world - I believe it originally hailed from Japan, that´s why we call it "Hokkaido" squash around here.

      Delete
  14. Your soup is elegant. I especially like your last two photos that got very up close and personal with the soup. Your Red Kuri seemed to be much smaller than mine. Being a midwestern girl, I grew up with either Acorn or Butternut Squash. I am realizing that our various farmers markets are carrying more varieties these days. So now that I dipped my "big toe" in the water and feel more comfortable with this entire squash thing, I intend to try other varieties when I'm in California this Winter. Yours looks delicious, especially with the lovely garnish.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Mary, thank you kindly for your comment - getting "up close and personal with my soup" was the fun part (love that expression!) - it had such an unbelievable color -all I could think of was trying to catch that.

      Delete