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November 13, 2011

Obama's Soup

DSC02108

This is a recipe that I developed from the starting point of one provided in the New York Times by Sam Kass, President Obama's personal chef in the White House. I found the original to be somewhat half-hearted (i.e. mute flavors) but also maybe a touch too acidic. I re-worked it slightly to turn it into a fall classic in our household. It has a kind of creamy, squashy nuttiness braced by cider that, to me, is somehow just evocative of autumn. It is autumnal, you could say.

Anyway, the basic ingredients:

-Butternut Squash (I usually do 3-4 big ones or 4-5 medium ones);

-4-5 Apples. Kass used Granny Smiths, which I felt created too acidic a final product. I tend to use sweeter red apples, like Fuji's, Macs, Winesaps, etc.;

-Apple Cider (30-40 ounces, depending on your taste for acidity). Use real, pressed fall apple cider, not dressed up apple juice;

-14 ounces of chicken stock (I use Swanson's canned; I don't care for the taste of many of the fancier, pricier ones I've tried; I'll make my stock again someday, when I no longer have a 2 year old child);

-Salt, pepper, cinnamon;

-Nutmeg (buy 'em whole and grate them in with a Microplane-type grater);

-Dried cherries (if you have a choice, tarter cherries are better than sweet ones for this dish);

-Pumpkinseed oil (I use Styrian pumpkinseed oil from Austria; my favorite to date is from Castelmuro, but I plan to try La Tourangelle's take at some point);

-Crème fraîche (a tub that will be used for whopping dollops down on the soup just before serving).

-Any neutral oil (like grapeseed).

And now for the show:

Preheat oven to 400° F (204.4° C).

Cut 3 large (or 4 medium) butternut squash in half. Scoop out the seeds and cut each half into roughly 4 pieces each.

Toss the butternut squash chunks in a salad bowl with oil, salt and pepper.

Oil a baking tray (this is mostly about making cleanup easier for you), put down a layer of aluminum foild and arrange the squash over shallow tray, skin side down, and then cover tightly with foil.

Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes (until very soft).

Meanwhile, after about 30 minutes core and quarter your apples. Toss them in the same salad bowl with oil, salt and pepper. Prepare another shallow tray in the same fashion that you did the first (ie rub the inside of the tray with oil and then cover the inside with a layer of foil, arrange the apples skin side down and cover with foil.

When you remove the squash from the overn, replace with the apple chunk tray.

Cut open (carefully: there can be a blast of hot steam) the foil covering the squash and let cool to the point that it can be handled.

Take the squash and scoop the flesh off the skin with a spoon and drop the flesh in a food processor. Pulse for maybe 40-50 seconds, then scoop the pulp into a food mill or chinois that has been placed over soup pot or, as with me, a Le Creuset-style enameled cast iron French oven (I use the the 9.5 quart one for this recipe, though that is probably overkill). Force the processed pulp through the mill or chinois.

If at any point your pulp is not liquid enough to make this work, just add in some of the cider at the food processor stage.

If your processor or food mill/chinous is smaller, then do this in batches.

Meanwhile, the apples are roasting. How long should they roast? Well, it depends on the apple. Some kinds take almost as long as the squash.

Remove the apples after maybe 25 minutes, peel back the foil from a corner (again, BE CAREFUL: hot steam can come rushing out) and fork test an apple for doneness (ie, does the fork penetrate the apple easily?). If not, re-seal the foil and give it another 20 minutes in the oven.

Once the apples are done, remove the tray containing from the oven and CAREFULLY (again, hot steam, people!) peel back the foil and allow the apples to cool to the point where you can handle them.

And then they get the same treatment as the squash: scoop the flesh from the skin (I often just scrape it by hand), plop in a food processor, process for 30-40 seconds, send it through a food mill or chinois (do this in batches if necessary).

Add in the remainng apple cider and the chicken stock.

Put on low heat and slowly (slowly!) bring to heat.

Add in cinnamon (be a little bold but not ridiculous) and nutmeg (grate in perhaps half a nutmeg seed).

(Remember, you can always add in more cinnamon or nutmeg later; removing it later...not so much).

As this soup comes to heat it might initially have a smell or taste that seems slightly amiss. The reason for this is that chicken stock has not yet blended harmoniously with the other components. Don't worry about it: as it gradually comes together with the heat everything will work out!

(Trust me. I'm not like the others: I'm your friend.)

Once it has come to a low simmer let it continue to simmer very low for a bit.

To serve: Ladle out the soup into warm soup bowls, put a dollop (by which I mean a generous spoonful, but that is it) of crème fraîche in the middle of the soup, sprinkle 8-9 dried cherries on the crème fraîche and then drizzle pumpkinseed oil around the base of the hill of crème fraîche. It should present in a very aesthetically appealing way, but advise your guests, family, mortal enemies, (whoever and etc.) to swirl the components together with their spoons.

I have to admit that I have not put a lot of thought into what to serve with this, but maybe a hot apple cider/calvados mix might not be bad, or a sweeter wine like a sauternes. Certainly do not match this with a Ferrari engine-style red.

Tips

-If you find the soup too sweet, introduce some acidity, perhaps with a bit more cider mixed with apple cider vinegar.

-If you see a localized body of foam forming on the surface of the soup while under simmer, stir! And perhaps reduce the heat a bit! That is an early warning sign that the soup below is starting to clump up a little under the heat and may burn to the bottom.

-It is better to serve this soup in a shallow, wide soup bowl: the crème fraîche/cherry formation will not sink below the surface.

Posted by dag at November 13, 2011 8:12 AM

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