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| Squash, Pear, and Celery Soup |
Squash soup is one of those ubiquitous fall offerings in restaurants this time of year and that is as it should be. They are an almost comical harbinger of fall, soul satisfying and bracing against the cold. Quite often they are made clumsily, too thick and sweet or spiced to high hell with cinnamon or nutmeg. They often more closely resemble baby food than a comforting, adult meal. I wanted to break away from the typical mold, but it's hard with squash soup. Even the not so great ones are pleasurable as a sort of seasonal touchstone. You don't want to rob the soup of that character. You want it to be familiar, just relieved of a little of its cliche.
Turns out this wasn't so difficult. Squash, obviously, is a fruit, but like tomatoes, arrives on American tables in vegetable garb. So a new path quickly became clear: bring the vegetable quality a little more forward and stop treating it like pumpkin pie filling. Think of it as a savory soup with sweet qualities. To do so required only a few minor tweaks.
First, pair the squash with celery. The two make very good partners and I am a little mystified as to why they don't appear together more often. Celery is undeniably savory, underutilized as a forward flavor, and a great vehicle for bringing the savory character of other foods out. Adding two leeks to the pot helps in the same way, though the leeks play a more supporting role.
Second, simmer the raw squash in the pot with the other ingredients. Most people roast squash prior to making their soup. Many recipes encourage this route. Roasting intensifies the sweetness and mutes vegetal notes. It also, not so incidentally, relieves the cook of the effort of peeling. But for our purposes, a simmer will keep the "vegetable" in tact.
Third, skip the pumpkin pie spices. These flavors trick the brain into reading sweet, even when sweet is not present. If you must add some sort of spice element, try fennel seed, or dill pollen, or fresh ginger instead. This soup relies on bay leaf as its principal herb, again because it is great at reinforcing the savory quality of anything it simmers with.
It would be incorrect to think that this soup is not sweet. It is. The idea is to bring the savory characteristics forward and not mask them with tooth aching sweetness. Without a bit of sweet, the soup would lack depth and the squash flavor would be flat. We rely on pears and pear cider to the job here. They provide a little natural fruit sweetness and a touch of tartness that adds additional balance. Pears pair marvelously with both squash and celery as well and all three hit their peak at the market at about the same time. They make quite the trifecta.
Finally, a generous addition of butter marries everything together and provides a little richness. It may seem like a lot, but remember the recipe makes about a gallon and a half of soup. When all is said and done, you will have a homey, comforting, but complex and mature soup worth dwelling over for a moment. This recipe calls for butternut squash because it must be dealt with raw and butternut is far easier to peel than a more flavorful amber cup or kabocha. If you decide to use another variety, just make sure to adjust quantities accordingly.
Squash, Celery, and Pear Soup
1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced
1 head of celery with its leaves, the greener the better, roughly chopped
10 ripe bosc pears, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped
2 leeks, tough green tops removed, roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
1 small branch of summer savory or thyme
3 cups pear cider
about 3 cups light mushroom stock or water
1/2# salted butter
salt
Place all of the above in a large stock pot. Use only enough mushroom stock to let the ingredients move about freely. Bring to the simmer and cook until everything is tender. Remove the savory and bay leaves.
Ladle off a bit of the cooking liquid and reserve. Transfer the soup in batches to a blender and puree. Let the blender run on high speed for about a minute. Run the soup through a chinois if you have one. Use the reserved cooking liquid to thin the soup to desired consistency if need be. Remember to let the soup be soup. It shouldn't be overly thick.
Season with salt to taste. The soup freezes and reheats remarkably well so make a lot. You will be happy to have it all winter long.
