sliky butternut Kürbis soup

There are a two different camps in my household: the soup lover and soup loather. Lucky for me, the people we invite to dinner belong to my camp: the soup lovers. With a “ha ha, my soup loather, you are out-numbered!” I can experiment with hearty liquid goodness without much coercion.

Last week I bought a butternut Kürbis from our local organic farmer and a winter soup was the first thing that came to mind. After I told my friends about the squash, most conveyed surprise that butternut Kürbis are available now. I had to scratch my head. For the most part the organic farmer only sells produce that falls within the season. So I guess my friends mistook the butternut for the jack o’ lantern kind because Kürbis means both pumpkin and squash in German. Although a pumpkin is a squash.. so?

My wish initially was to find a truly vegetarian soup that really didn’t need added cream to the mix to make it edible. You can’t imagine how throughly surprised I was to find a method that surpassed my expectations: so easy and only required about 10 minutes more effort than the normal recipes out there to produce a quality soup that blows the Mensa soups out of the pot.

The second surprise was that the recipe called for a corn cob. Cob? I’d never heard of that. But the aroma is heavenly. And now I want to try it in other soups.

So here is what I used to make my first attempt. It is amazingly beautiful in color and in texture. The flavor is highly addictive.

Sliky butternut “Kürbis” soup

Inspired by the Dackleprincess. This long-winded recipe is based on concise version suggested on Butter Pig. The recipe below makes enough for 6-8 soup lovers.

You can find these ingredients here in Munich rather easily.

You’ll need:

1 (approx: 1 kg) Butternut Kürbis (squash)

2 Tbs olive oil

2 (approx. 200g) Poree (Leeks)

2 (approx. 200g) carrots

2 (approx. 150g) celery stalks

1 cob of corn

150 ml of dry white wine

a few sprigs of thyme

Before Serving:

(approx. 2tsp) salt

fresh ground pepper

(approx. 2 tsp) white wine vinegar (infused with estragon)

(approx. 100ml) heavy cream (optional)

Deco:

Kürbis kernöl (pumpkin seed oil)

In a pre-heated oven at 180°C place the halved Kürbis in a pan and roast until tender. My oven needs an exorcist but for most normal ovens, Mr. Butterpig has it right and it will take about 90 minutes before it is easily scoopable.

In the meantime, clean and slice poree, cut carrots and celery into medium pieces. In a 4-Liter pot with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, cook the veggies over gentle heat, until they release their moisture. Then pour in the wine and allow the alcohol to evaporate a bit before adding the thyme and covering the veggies with water.

At this point add the corn cob and maintain the soup temperature just below boiling while the Kürbis finishes cooking.

Once the Kürbis is done, remove it from the oven, and throw away the seeds and dried stringy parts. Using a spoon, scoop out the flesh and added it into the soup pot leaving behind the skin. You may need to add more water to cover the veggies. Continue simmering until all veggies are soft.

Get out a blender. You can use a hand mixer but I’d recommend a blender because you really want to puree this soup good before you pass the soup through a metal sieve (or strainer). Before blending, remove the corn cob.

In batches, blend the mixture until completely smooth, then pour that batch into a coarse mesh strainer over another pot. You may need to use the rounded back of a soup ladle to press the mixture through the sieve. This gives the soup its velvety texture. There maybe some strings or bits of pulp that can’t be pressed through the strainer. But there should only be a little bit remaining in the sieve. (don’t give up) This rest can be throwing away if you don’t want a chunky stringy soup.

Keep simmering the soup. Once the liquid is reduced to a desired consistency, add salt and pepper. That means taste the soup first, then add about 1/2 tsp of salt, then taste again. It won’t be the right amount of salt yet, so add another 1/2 salt then taste again. Repeat this until you’ve gotten the right amount of salt (about 2 tsps for my soup and I used sea salt). Do the same with the some fresh ground pepper (I didn’t add too much pepper, maybe about 3 turns)

Now taste your soup again and you’ll notice it needs a kick of something acidic. If you are new to seasoning a soup with an acid, I’d recommend dipping your finger into the wine vinegar and tasting it alone for reference. This is what you don’t want to taste from your soup.

Stir in 1/2 teaspoon-wise wine vinegar and taste in between until you noticed that the soup flavor is brighter (opposite to dull, watery, bland) (about 2 tsps for my soup). Don’t add so much that you notice that there is wine vinegar in your soup.

Now you can serve this as it is or add about 100 ml of heavy cream or more to taste and heat the soup up again until it is steamy warm. Check the taste again in case you need to re-seasoning. And of course, you can drizzle (probably better than I can) some roasted pumpkin seed oil on top to a add another flavor dimension.

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Edible Green Gem

Since St. Paddy’s day is right around the corner, I thought I’d pay a little tribute with a little green. During my years as a working engineer, my co-workers planned several St. Paddy’s Day parties. We each brought in a dish that had the color green: Green salad, green curry, green eggs, etc. It was a big hit. Anyway, I miss those get-togethers. And surely I recently discovered a greenish vegetable that would have been a crowd So you may be asking, “What the heck is that in the picture?” Germans know it as Romanesco. Apparently, the English version in Wikipedia doesn’t know what the heck it’s called nor knows whether its part of the cauliflower or broccoli family. But the ‘experts’ have settled to call it, Broccoflower. Other names from German are “minaret cabbage” [Minarettkohl] or “turret cauliflower” [Türmchenblumenkohl]. Weird eh? To me, one of florets resembles an eye of a cameleon.

One day I was flipping through the television and I happened upon a quick glimpse of this edible wonder. I found out that it is cultivated world wide, but mainly in Europe and Asia. Germany either grows it pretty much in all reputable vegetable farms but also receives shipments from France and Italy.

A few weeks later I found some sold at our local Aldi. Holy cow, Romanesco! I was so proud that I had recognized it. What did it taste like? was my second thought. To my surprise, the Romanesco was sold in the same package with broccoli and cauliflower all the way from Spain. (I’m guessing a lot of the discounter produce comes from Spain.) I quickly picked up a package with a little smile, dreaming ways I could cook up something I never thought I’d see in the light green, crystalline-looking flesh.

I finally settled on a hearty version of Broccoli Cheese Soup. I doctored up a few internet recipes and gingered a soup that used all three broccoli, cauliflower, and romanesco veggies. I also took into consideration that cheddar cheese is a very rare and expensive find in Germany. Instead I used Gouda. You can find my version here. So Romanesco, to me, has a softer consistency than cauliflower. It tastes more like cauliflower than broccoli but with a touch of added quality -maybe a hint nutty and a slightly sweet flavor.

From a nutritional standpoint, Romanesco is easy to digest and is suitable for people on a restricted or bland diet because of it’s tender structure. It contains little carbohydrates, but makes up for this deficit with important minerals such as Potassium (for a happy heart), a lot of Vitamin K (good for blood coagulation), and comparatively speaking, tons of Vitamin C. 200 grams of Broccoflower contains the Recommended Daily Allowance for Vitamin C.

Romanesco Stats

Broccoflower (raw), 1 cup (93g)
Calories: 20
Protein: 1.88g
Carbohydrate: 3.9g
Total Fat: 0.19g
Fiber: 2.0g
* Excellent source of: Vitamin C (56mg)
source: Wikipedia

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Broccoli-Romanesco-Cauliflower Gouda Soup

creamy broccoli cheese soup brought up a hearty notchI love the taste of Chili’s or Panera’s Broccoli Cheddar soups, but they are engineered for the masses. They tend to be waterier and lack the heartiness (and nutrition) of homemade soups. Here’s a recipe I adapted from others I have seen on the web. I hit it right on the money on the first try -excellent, thick and tasty. The vegetable measurements are estimates. You may have to add more vegetable broth if you have more veggies in your soup. Romanesco is also called Broccoflower.

+ 3 Tbs butter
+ 1 carrot, finely chopped
+ 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
+ 1/2 cup bell pepper, finely chopped
+ 2 cloves garlic, minced
+ 2 Tbs flour
+ 2 cup vegetable stock
(I use Alnatura Klare Gemüsebrühe)
+ 1 1/2 cup brocco stem pieces and some florets, chopped
+ 1 cup peeled potato, small cubes
+ 2 cups milk
+ 2 cups grated Gouda Cheese
+ 1 1/2 cups broccoli, broccoflower, cauliflower florets, bite size
+ 1/4 tsp finely grated hazelnut
+ salt and pepper to taste
+ chili sauce for garnish and spice

1. Melt 3 Tbs butter over medium heat in a large soup pot
2. Add carrot, onion, red bell pepper and garlic to pot and cook until veggies are tender.
3. Remove the pot from the burner and add 2 Tbs flour. Stir until well mixed with the vegetables.
4. Then pour in vegetable stock and return pot to burner. Whisk until stock and flour are well blended.
5. Add brocco pieces, potatoes to the stock
6. You may have to add more stock to cover the vegetables. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and cover. Allow to simmer, stirring occasionally until potatoes are tender.
7. Use a hand mixer to puree the vegetables until the mixture is thick and smooth.
8. Add 2 cups of milk and heat until the soup gets warm again
9. Sprinkle 2 cups of gouda cheese and stir until melted
10. Add brocco florets and allow to cook a bit in the simmering soup for a few minutes. Then serve

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