Pinot, Bretzels, and Cathedrals

ORANGE.  My least favourite colour.  Well, it use to be.  After 15 months of European living, I am a little more partial to it: It was interesting how it snuck into shops and markets a few weeks ago, before the weather changed, and the orange-ness was an extension of summer heat.

My friendly boulangere though, has stripped down the tri-coloeur flags of summer (Bastille Day patriotism), and have decked out their window dressing with friendly witches dressed in patchwork orange, broomsticks and straw.  Their specials indicate they are selling lots of bread with pumpkin in it. Very soon the fake snow and Christmas lights will replace the Harvest/Halloween theme, but for the moment, orange is everywhere.

At the market, the tables are full of forest mushrooms, apples, artichokes and the abundant squash.  Pumpkins, Hubbards, Butternuts.  They overflow onto the roads, they are white, they are grey-blue, they are dark green, they are brown-orange. They are knobbly, they are smooth, they have scratches in their skin.  They are whole, and they are cut open, their bright orange flesh are like beacons under a grey wet sky.

October.  An orange month.  In South Africa, we might be experiencing orange sunsets- with all the winter dust still not settled by spring rains, I imagine the dusk horizon will glow orange.  Here, and in America too I assume, leaves change colour, and the forests are speckled with various shades of red, brown, yellow and orange, and the daily grind becomes all about the Harvest and Halloween, and what is more indicative of both of these than the pumpkin?  I have memories of St Michaels Church in Boston (KZN, SA) at Harvest festival time, and the table would overflow with pumpkins (and potatoes), and you can’t really make Jack o’ Lanterns out of apples!

The buzz on the playground is pumpkin pie; pumpkin bread; pumpkin muffins: “so-and-so makes the best such-and-such“.  Unfortunately, I still have such a boarding school phobia against pumpkin, I may never form my own opinion, and I don’t bother much to be the best so-and-so at baking a such-and such. Give me another year before I transfer my delight for butternuts across to pumpkins.

I have to say, I have only been enamoured by the butternut for the last 18 years- to this day my toes still curl in horror if I think about the chunk of butternut that would sit on our lunch plates in my junior school years.  Aside from never being served at any temperature than cold, it always had its’ skin still on, which only served to encourage us to hide bobotie under the shell if we could get away with it.

The idea of my Mum threatening to make pumpkin fritters use to scare me terribly- if there ever was a punishment I feared, it would be the thought of being forced to eat either pumpkin, butternut or cabbage.  (Yes, meal times were very strict in our youth- eat everything put on your plate, and no snacking between meals).

And then, in 1996, on my second day of chef studies, we cooked vegetables, and all of a sudden, an entire new world opened up to me.  (Sometimes I do think I could ‘go veggie’, after my years of trying to find a new way to serve vegetables, but then I stare down a piece of rump steak, and all those thoughts become null and void.)

I could fill up a few pages with my ideas for cooking and preparing butternut- a really versatile kind of squash, and in South Africa, available almost all year round.  Here though, it’s not, and it seems I will have to wait for autumn and early winter every year to have the pleasure of my favourite Butternut and Bacon Soup.  If you’re interested in more butternut recipes, please drop me a mail, and I will share, but for the moment, here is another soup recipe, because soup is yummy, and easy, and even your non-cooking partner will be able to make it. This will make around 2litres, which is enough to feed the four of us a dinner meal.

* 500g butternut

* 150g potatoes

* 100g onions

* 150g carrots

* 1/2 stick of leek

* 2 stalks celery

* 1 clove garlic

* 3 short stalks thyme

* 250g bacon bits

* 50ml cooking oil

* 30g knob of butter

* 5ml garam masala

* 1.5l water (or chicken stock if you have it, but it’s not entirely necessary if you use bacon)

* 250ml coconut cream

* salt and pepper to taste

The weights for all the vegetables are the net weight, (ie, after they are peeled/cleaned), and they can be cut into rough sized pieces no bigger than 3 cubic centimeters.

The leek and celery sticks must be cleaned- cut your leek lengthwise, open the ‘leaves’ under running water and make sure any sand caught up is washed out.  Then return to cutting board and slice horizontally.

In a large (soup) pot, turn the heat up to medium-high, add the oil and butter.  When the butter has melted (but not burnt), add all the vegetables, thyme, garlic, and bacon.

Saute off to allow the aromatic vegetables to ‘sweat’.  After 3 minutes, add the garam masala, and cook for a further minute or 2.  Don’t let the pot burn after you add the masala- you will have to stir more often, possible add a little extra oil and/or water.

Now add water or stock- it must be enough to cover the vegetables. Place a lid on the pot, bring the liquid to the boil, and then turn the heat down to medium to simmer. Don’t allow it to boil rapidly- the liquid will evapourate, and you could end up with puree vegetables, not soup.

Allow to simmer for 45 minutes to ensure all the vegetable soften.

Remove from heat, and fish out the stalks of thyme.

When it comes to blending (or pureeing) the soup, I normally just use my trusty old stick blender straight into the pot, which works very effectively.

(If you use a different blender, separate the liquid from the solid, and let it cool down slightly- you don’t want to burn yourself. Combine the puree and liquid back into the pot after.)

Return the pot to medium heat, and add the coconut cream, and salt and pepper to your preferred taste.

As an occasional treat (or if you’re not serving to children who don’t like green stuff in their food), add a handful of chopped fresh coriander just before you serve the soup.

We normally eat this soup as a meal with fresh baguettes.

Bon appetite, et en plus,

Bisous

xxx