Squash & Tomatillo Soup

Winter Squashes

By Cat, Sept 2007 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)

• Includes: 1. Squash & Pear Soup
• See also: 1. Squash & Apple or Pear Soup; 2. Squash, Carrot & Ginger Soup; 3. Soups & Stocks Menu

This wonderful recipe is also adapted from Anna Thomas’s The New Vegetarian Epicure (1).  I’d never heard of tomatillos until I saw this recipe.  The next time I went to my local natural foods store, there was a basket of purple tomatillos, and I just had to try them in this soup.

Wonderful recipe!  I’ve not been able to find the purple tomatillos since then, but the green ones work just fine, they just don’t have that wonderful contrast to the orange-colored squash.  There is just something magic about purple and orange, like a southwestern sunset.

Squash & Tomatillo Soup

Tomatillo

Tomatillos (as in photo, left, from Wikimedia Commons) look a bit like a tomato, with a papery husk that is to be discarded (to the compost pile).  They can be sticky, or not.

The original recipe calls for Kabocha squash, but any winter squash will do, such as buttercup, hubbard, delicata, or acorn; however, the squash must be ripe, to be sweet.

If you don’t have the chiles, you can add a few dried red pepper flakes to taste.

If you want to add some protein to this soup, add some cooked white beans with the pureed tomatillos (or puree them with the tomatillos).

Serves 8 – 10.

Ingredients & Equipment:

• about 12 medium tomatillos (1 ½ lbs)
• 3 – 4 medium tomatoes, ripe red (1 lb)
• 12 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• Unrefined sea salt, to taste
• 4 cups winter squash, peeled and diced (about 2 lbs)
• 4 cups homemade vegetable broth or chicken Stock
• 2 cups water, more as needed
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 large yellow onions
• 1 small bunch fresh cilantro
• 1 – 2 cups cooked white beans
• 2 dried red serrano or other hot chiles
• cookie sheet
• stock pot
• large cast iron skillet

Method:

1. Prep: Preheat oven to 450°F,
2. Remove and discard husks from tomatillos.  Wash them and cut in half.  Wash, trim and quarter tomatoes.  Set aside.
3. Quarter and slice onions; de-stem and chop cilantro coarsely.  Set both aside.
4. Peel and mince only one of the cloves garlic, and add to the onions; leave remaining cloves unpeeled.
5. Soup: Arrange tomatillos, tomatoes and all but one clove of garlic on a cookie sheet.  Sprinkle lightly with salt and roast in preheated oven for 35 – 45 minutes, until veggies are soft and beginning to char in spots.  Remove and let cool for a few minutes.
6. Meanwhile, dice squash and combine with broth/stock and 2 cups water in stock pot.  Simmer, covered, for at least 45 minutes, or until squash is very tender.
7. At same time, heat oil in cast iron pan; add onions, minced garlic, and a dash of salt.  Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until onions are caramelized to a dark golden brown.
8. When roasted veggies are cool enough to handle, scrape tomato pulp and seeds from the skins with a spoon; compost the skins.  Squeeze soft garlic out of the cloves and compost the husks.
9. Combine tomatillos, tomato and garlic pulp in a blender or food processor with a little water, to puree. For a thicker soup, add half the cooked squash and cooking liquid to blender and puree again. If using white beans, you can puree them with the tomatillos, if desired, or add them whole in the next step.
10. Add puree to broth and squash, along with the caramelized onions, and the chopped cilantro (and cooked white beans, if using whole).  If broth has been greatly reduced during cooking, add back some water.
11. Toast dried chiles in hot pan or over a flame until they blister or show black spots.  Remove the seeds to compost, for a milder flavor, or leave in-tact; chop the chiles and stir into the soup.
12. Simmer all together for 5 – 10 minutes. Serve hot.

Serving ideas 

• Serve hot, with warm corn tortillas, corn bread, or any good bread.
• Garnish with sprigs of cilantro or chopped green scallions.

References

1. The New Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas (see Beloved Cookbooks for more info)