SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2009
Sadly, two friends each had a death in their family this week. I want to make some soup to take over. At times of illnesses and deaths in my own family I’ve truly appreciated the outpouring of help and food that others have offered. I want to give back when I can.
It’s fall and the pumpkins are ripe. Soup a la coucourde seems like a good offering: it can be eaten hot or cold and it can be frozen for a later time. I procured three “pie pumpkins” from our trusty farmer’s market. (It’s still going on for another couple of weeks.) The recipe calls for “6 pounds pumpkin flesh, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes”. The dastardly word in that phrase is “peeled”. Have you ever tried peeling a pumpkin? It’s not easy, my friends. I learned through trial and error that it is easier to cut the pumpkin into chunks first and to use a sharp knife rather than a peeler. (The cooks among you are probably saying “duh!”) There is also chopping of onions, garlic, and russet potatoes involved. I won’t even tell you how long all this took! I was making a double recipe so that I would have enough for my friends and for home too.
I got to thinking: why do I spend so much time on this? I find the cutting and chopping somewhat meditative. There’s nothing better than to have my ipod blasting great music while doing these preparations. I’m also coming to realize that Provencal cooking is simple cooking. The secret is fresh, local ingredients. I could have opened a can of pumpkin but that would have been another animal altogether. I did take license with the recipe in one way: rather than making my own chicken stock, as the instructions call for, I did use canned broth. I also used the zucchini and onion broth from the gratin of a few days ago. Anyway, I managed to finish the cutting and chopping with all fingers intact. I am remembering that at cooking school we did very little cutting and chopping. All that was done by elves (I guess) while we were cavorting at local markets or mountains. When we returned “home” we were mostly involved with assembling and cooking and savoring!
So, how was the final product? Good, not great. I have a recipe for curried (acorn) squash and pear soup, which is de-lish. It’s a hard act to follow. Hmmmm…..maybe I’ll add some curry.
This cooking endeavor did produce a batch of pumpkin seeds, which I roasted and salted. Yum!
The pumpkin soup tasted "authentic" to me. This I determined was because it had potatoes in it. The addition of a little curry powder made it taste even better to me.
ReplyDeleteThe apple tart (below) was delicious. I liked it the French way with the sweetened sour cream.
I am really lucky to have this all being done, and for me to be able to enjoy all the good eating. Having picked up "me" at cooking camp in Nyons, I can appreciate the cooking and the style of food even more I think.