ode to joy

Music and cooking are a great culinary pairing.

A few years ago I catered a dinner party for a friend of my sister. Nelson is a portrait artist who lives in a painting- and sculpture-filled house outside of Philadelphia. His youngest children have inherited their father’s talent and have channeled it into music (and skateboarding, in the case of the youngest son). I spent the afternoon prepping the dinner, with Annalisa’s piano music making its way into the kitchen and filling the room – and my heart – with beautiful melodies. It made for one of my favorite cooking memories.

My sister and her husband hosted an engagement party for my niece just after I finished culinary school, and one of my classmates flew to Atlanta to help me cater the party. We had a great time doing our prep work to the inspiring songs of ABBA, the Swedish songsters doing a lot to help us channel our inner Dicing Queen. However, after about the twentieth replay of the cd, Anne begged us to find something new to play, so we moved onto Meatloaf. We had no choice.

This fall most of the cooking I’ve been doing has been in the kitchen of the house I’m sharing in upstate New York. One night last February I received a call from a high school friend who lives in Brooklyn. Maura and her husband Scott happened to be in my neighborhood, and I joined them for a beer. As our discussion continued, Maura mentioned that some friends of hers had a house for rent in a small town on the banks of the Hudson. The friends in question are two brothers from Charleston who have written a couple of cookbooks and have done a lot of travel and food-related writing. The more we talked about the house the more it became obvious that this was a no-brainer: the chance to cook in a kitchen owned by James Beard-award winners, and my share of the rent for a weekend house would be less than it was costing me to park my car in Manhattan?! Yes!

The upstate kitchen is a wonderful spot for cooking and listening to music. I open iTunes and turn to the classical radio station from Wyoming. They play a lot of the full rich sounds that I love, and it’s a real treat to hear the weather forecast “ten inches of snow tonight” and catch myself in a temporary state of confusion. The farmers markets right now are like a beautiful symphony, brimming over with gorgeous vegetables of every color and shape. I recently discovered the Long Island Cheese Squash, so named for its resemblance to a wheel of cheese. I used it in a curried soup; a butternut or kabocha squash would work just as well. I hope this recipe makes your tastebuds sing!

Harvest Squash Soup

Serves four

1 medium-sized squash, about 3 pounds

1 medium onion, cut into medium dice

4 to 6 cups vegetable stock

2-3 teaspoons curry powder

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. Scrub squash clean and cut into quarters. Remove seeds and stringy innards. (Note: seeds can be reserved for garnish, see below.)

3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper of lightly oil it. Place squash quarters on the pans and drizzle with olive oil and season with a sprinkling of salt and pepper.

3.. Roast squash in 400 degree oven approximately 30-40 minutes, or until cooked. (Test for doneness by inserting a fork or sharp knife into flesh. Squash is cooked when said utensil goes into flesh easily.)

4. Allow squash to cool enough for easy handling. Meanwhile, sauté diced onion in olive oil over medium high heat, until translucent. At the end of cooking, add the curry powder and stir to combine with onions; cook over heat for about a minute more. (This technique helps bring out the oils in the spices of the curry mix and enhances the flavor)

5. Scoop cooked squash out of the skin and put in the pan with the onions. Discard skins. Add about 3 cups of stock. Puree with an immersion blender. (Alternatively, moved cooked onions into a blender, add cooked squash there, cover with stock. Close blender tightly, covering the top with a dishtowel just in case of “explosion” during processing.) Once majority of squash/onion mixture is pureed, you can add more stock (and water as needed) to get soup to your desired thickness and consistency. Remember that the soup will thicken after the pureeing, so you’ll want to make it a little thinner than you think you want. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6. Serve soup warm, garnished with roasted seeds, a sprig of thyme (an ingredient in the stock), or a dollop of sour cream/crème fraiche.

Note: For squash seed garnish, separate seeds them from the stringy membranes, place on an oiled cookie sheet, drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Toast in 250 degree oven for about an hour, until crispy.

Souvenirs from Travels Abroad

During the mid-90s I served on the staff of the Admiral in command of the US South Atlantic Force. There have been several changes to areas of responsibility since, but in those days my boss' area included the west coast of Africa. During my time in that job we made two trips, by plane, to West Africa, travels that stretched from Cape Verde (which is neither truly a cape, nor very verde), along the Gulf of Guinea and down to Namibia and South Africa. We visited twelve countries over the course of the two two-week trips.

It was an incredible learning experience. Although our stays in each country weren't extended, we did get to see a great deal. It was fascinating to go from French-speaking Senegal to the former Portuguese colony of Guinea Bissau and on to anglophone Ghana, and then to see the Dutch and German influences in the southern part of the continent.

The other night here in New York, I got in a taxi driven by a Ghanaian gentleman. As we drove downtown we had a long talk about his country and the cuisine. He recommended Ghana's peanut soup as a nice warming tonic against the bitter cold we're having right now. When I got home, I pulled out a couple of cookbooks that I picked up back in the days of the West African travel. "Ghanaian Favourite Dishes" by Alice Dede was a special find during a visit to the national museum in Accra.


Her soup chapter begins with beautiful "rules for making soup": use everything perfectly fresh and as little fat as possible; use sufficient seasoning but not in excess; cook ingredients well."
That said, her recipe for "Nkatenkawan" (groundnut -or peanut - soup) is pretty spare by US standards, simply listing water, tomatoes, pepper, onions, fish or chicken, groundnuts, and salt as ingredients, and the cooking instructions are just slightly more specific. This is a vegetarian version that is inspired by Alice Dede and her recipe. You can try it at home one day when you feel like doing a little armchair traveling:

West African Peanut Soup
Serves 6-8

1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 tablespoon minced fresh gingerroot
1 clove garlic, minced
Canola or extra virgin olive oil
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 quart vegetable stock
1 cup tomato puree
2 cups sweet potato (peeled and cut in large (1 inch) chunks)
1/2 cup natural peanut butter (chunky or plain)
2 cups spinach leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In the bottom of a 5 quart saucepan, saute onion on medium/medium-high heat, 5-7 minutes, in oil. When translucent, add the gingerroot and garlic, lowering heat to medium, and cook for 2-3 minutes. Be sure not to let the garlic burn. Add the cayenne pepper and chili powder, stir to incorporate in the vegetable mixture and cook for a minute or so more.

2. Add the stock, tomato puree and sweet potatoes to the pan, and raise the heat to bring the liquid to a boil. Once it boils, reduce to a simmer and let it cook for 15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft. Add the peanut butter. Turn the heat off and using an immersion blender, puree the soup. (See notes.)

3. Once the soup is pureed, return it to medium heat and add spinach leaves. Cook for an additional five minutes. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper as desired. Serve, garnishing with finely chopped chives or scallions.

Notes:
- Immersion blenders make easy work of pureeing hot soups. If you don't have one, you can puree in a regular blender, but use extra care in handling the hot liquid (among other things, place a dishtowel over the lid and hold it down tight while pureeing). Alternatively, you can skip the pureeing and enjoy the flavors with a chunky texture.
- Recommend checking the seasoning throughout the building of the flavors in this soup.
- The sweet potatoes should yield a nice sweetness that complements the ginger and tomato and plays off against the peanut taste, but if you like you can add some sugar to to the soup as desired.