Photo Project: Nicholas’s Recipe Book - An ongoing project of adding photos of dishes I cook all the time to my recipe catalog.
Little makes the heart sing like the rich flavors of fall we look forward to every year.
This first soup of the season came as Regina and I walked through the bounty at Cherry Grove Organic Farm and our eyes fell on the butternut squash. Butternut is honestly not my top squash, that honor goes to Red Kuri, followed by Kabocha - but Red Kuri is notoriously hard to find, and Kabocha is less popular than butternut. But it’s undeniable that for most, Butternut is the definitive fall squash.
Fortunately, I still had some Kabocha left over in the fridge from making tempura the other day (something I really should have photographed and shared, but that was before I got excited about this current series), so in that went. The final tally was actually 2 Butternuts, 3/4 a Kabocha, and the one lonely carrot I had bouncing around in the back of the fridge.
This recipe was mostly based on Daniel Gritzer’s “Classic Butternut Squash Soup” recipe on Serious Eats, my perennial source for in depth cooking guidance.
My major deviations being using 2 different kinds of squash (as mentioned above), 4 different alliums (yellow onion, shallot, leek, garlic), and adding pumpkin seeds to the tadka - which harkens back to an incredibly fond memory I have of getting a cup of squash soup from the little cafe at Blue Hill at Stone Barns on a misty fall day. It was really a peak experience and something I’ll likely remember forever.
I also didn’t have any thyme on hand, which I think the soup suffered from. It needs a bit more complexity. I might had a little hondashi next time, as well, but then I might be verging into this other Gritzer Squash Soup recipe.
Oh, and I obviously skipped the creme topping thing, but maybe I should give that a try, might be a more important element than I give it credit for.
I sent the above photo to a friend (who hasn’t seen much of my photography since I had mentioned to her I was planning to make the soup. Her response was “IS THAT YOUR ACTUAL BOWL OF IT?!?!?” which, y’know, always feels nice to hear someone is blown away by the photo.
Here’s a rough recipe for you, the way I write my own recipes down. You’ll noticed that a lot of the steps are implied, and it’s just the broad strokes.
Roast Squash (but how? whole, half, sliced, cubed? Who knows. Whatever I’m in the mood for.)
Sweat alliums in butter
Add squash to alliums, stock, herbs. Simmer
Remove herbs, blend
Brown butter, fry sage and pepitas
And that’s about as much as I’d actually write down for a recipe. Super high context, not a lot of help to someone else wanting to recreate the dish exactly like I did.
I have one recipe in a notebook that doesn’t even have a title. But when I read it I know it’s an onion gravy for bangers & mash. Little joys.
On this subject of food, I’m getting pretty hungry as I write this at 5:30pm. Tonight I’ll be making Cod Katsu Curry. Don’t worry, I’ll snap that one for you, too.
Photo kit used:
Profoto B10+
OCF Grid 20º
Profoto Connect Trigger
Manfrotto Air Cushioned Light Stand
Canon 6D
Canon 50mm f1.8
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