VELVETY BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

                            Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We had this lovely soup as part of our Thanksgiving dinner.  It was truly delicious, with a superbly velvet texture. Not a lot of ingredients in it, not a lot of spices to flavour it with, nothing to interfere with the subtle buttery taste of the squash. The soup's simplicity contributed to its scrumptiousness. The recipe is based on one from Jaques Pepin, chef extraordinaire.

To make the soup, I took the easy route and bought my squash peeled and chopped and ready to cook. Also, as a special treat, I substituted some of the cream with coconut milk. We made it a few weeks ago just to test the recipe, and at that time, we only used cream. I must admit the soup tastes great either way! 

 Ingredients:

4 cups chopped butternut squash

3 leeks, cleaned well and chopped (use the white and light green parts)

1 onion, chopped

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger root

1 teaspoon black pepper

salt to taste

3 cups vegetable stock

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/2 heavy cream 

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/3 cup chopped pistachios

Directions:

• In a heavy soup pan heat the olive oil.  
• Add the onions and leeks and sauté for about 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add the squash, the ginger and half the pepper and sauté for 3 more minutes, stirring.
• Add the stock. Cover the pot and simmer for about 25 to 30 minutes, until the squash is soft.
• Add salt to taste, and then add the rest of the black pepper. Taste and let boil for about one more minute.
• Let cool slightly and blend with an immersion blender until the soup is smooth. 
• The soup can be cooked up to this point a day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.
• When ready to serve, add the cream, the coconut milk, and the cinnamon. 
• Mix well, heat, garnish with chopped pistachios and serve! 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

SEPHARDIC LEEK FRITTERS WITH MEAT (KUFTE de PRASSA KEFTES de PRASSA)

Keftes in Greek means meat patty, and prasso-keftes is a meat patty into which leeks have been incorporated. The recipe I am using here makes a crunchy and juicy leek fritter, let me tell you! DELECTABLE!!! It's found in the book Sephardic Flavors - Jewish Cooking of the Mediterranean.

The book is an exploration of Jewish culinary history in the Mediterranean region. Joyce Goldstein, the author, discusses how Sephardic Jews, who left Spain in the fifteenth century CE, adapted to the cuisines of their new homelands. the book includes Jewish recipes from Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Italy, and Greece. Myself being Greek, I focused mostly on the Greek recipes, and particularly on the one for leek fritters. These delectable meatballs are a favourite of the Sephardim, who make them in both vegetarian and meat versions.

The Jews of Greece are Sephardim, descendants of those who in 1942 were forced out of Spain as a result of the Spanish Inquisition. The word “Sephardim” is derived from "Sepharad," the Hebrew word for Spain. After 1492, a large number of Sephardim found refuge in the Greek city of Thessaloniki (colloquially known as Salonika), where they established a thriving community. Its immediate pre-World War II population numbered approximately 56,000, making Thessaloniki the largest Sephardic centre in the world. Unfortunately, the Thessaloniki Sephardim suffered greatly during the Holocaust. From fifty-six thousand souls, only an approximate two thousand survived Auschwitz-Birkenau to return home. How were they able to rebuild their lives after so much suffering? It was an immense and continual struggle for each of them to pick up one by one the pieces of their lives and attempt to become whole.

My family, who are Thessaloniki natives, had developed friendships in the Sephardic community. One gentleman who was a close friend gave us one of his favourite recipes, leek fritters with meat, and we made it for him often. We too also loved those leek fritters! I remember them sitting on the kitchen counter, freshly cooked and aromatic. "Don't touch," my mother would say to me.  I had to wait my turn. Adults got served first, then children. I kept counting them as they were being plated, wondering how many would be left for me. 

How to make leek fritters with meat:

Ingredients:

3 pounds leeks

3/4 pound ground beef

3 slices rustic bread, crusts removed, soaked in water, and squeezed dry. (The recipe allows substituting 2 mashed potatoes for the bread. I tried this, but to me, the fritters taste better with the bread)
2 eggs separated

3 tablespoons walnuts, ground up well in a food processor

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 clove garlic, chopped well

2 shallots, chopped well

salt and pepper to taste

all-purpose flour for dredging

vegetable oil for frying

lemon wedges

Directions:

• Clean the leeks well! Cut off the root end and most of the green part. Slice them lengthwise and then crosswise into 1/2 inch pieces. Soak them in water to remove any leftover dirt, then drain them. 
• Place them in a pot with salted water to cover, and simmer until the leeks are soft, about 25 minutes. Drain well.
• In a bowl combine the leeks, ground beef, bread, egg yolks, walnuts, parsley, garlic and shallots. Season with salt and pepper and knead until the mixture holds together well.
• Form them into balls about 2 inches in diameter, and then flatten them a bit.
• Pour canola oil to a depth of 1 inch into a medium saucepan and heat the oil.
• Meanwhile spread some flour on a plate, and in a bowl beat the egg whites until they get frothy (but not stiff).
• When the oil is hot, dip the meatballs in the flour and then in the egg whites. Add them to the oil in batches and fry them until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon transfer the fritters to paper towels and allow to drain.
• Arrange on a platter and serve with lemon wedges.
• Leftover fritters can be reheated in tomato sauce. Also, the bread crumbs and flour listed in the recipe can be substituted with matzoh meal.

LEEK AND POTATO SOUP

What's for dinner tonight? It's a chilly, rainy day in early March, so I thought a nice soup would be appropriate. With a salad and a few slices of good bread, maybe some feta cheese to end with, there we are, that should make a nice meal. The leeks are looking good, I have a few nice potatoes left, and I just need to run out and get some parsley and cream. I'll be making leek and potato soup. Be right back... This is going to be a quick trip to the market; the outdoors is looking winter-glum. Although it's March, snow is still piled high on our lawns, and I've started to feel that all our spring greenery will permanently remain underneath a cover of frozen soil. And yet, as I step outside, I look up between the naked branches of the oak tree and with surprise, I discover a hopeful blue colour in the sky. I stare at it with anticipation. Isn't it beautiful?

Dinner is on time. In my home, this is an anomaly. But a sparkling blue sky can bring about changes.

I should next describe how to make leek and potato soup. How about it?

First off, prepare the bouquet garni. Gather bay leaf, thyme, parsley, peppercorns and rosemary. Bind the garni safely between some leek leaves. The garni will bring a wonderful aroma to the soup. Now get to work.

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
4 stalks celery, finely chopped
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
4 leeks, well cleaned and sliced in thin strips. Use only the white and light green part of the leeks.
4 or 5 Yukon gold potatoes, enough to weigh 2 & 1/2 pounds, sliced
4 or 5 cups low sodium vegetable or chicken broth
1 cup milk, cream or half and half. I used half and half 
salt and pepper to taste
chopped chives 
bouquet garni made up of 1 bay leaf, 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, 5 sprigs fresh thyme, 15-20 peppercorns. Wrap the bouquet with a few tender leek leaves and tie it with kitchen twine. You may need to make separate accommodations for the peppercorns, as they might slide out of the bouquet during cooking. A good option is to tie the peppercorns separately, inside a piece of coffee filter or cheesecloth.  

Directions:

• Clean and prepare the leeks for cooking. Cut off the root end and discard the rough green leaves. Save the white and light green part of the leek. Cut it in half lengthwise, and rinse each half several times under cold running water. This method ensures that the soil and sand that has remained between the leaves are washed off. Chop the leeks into thin slices.

• In a stockpot heat the olive oil. Add the onion, garlic, celery, parsley, and leeks. Simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the ingredients become soft. Make sure they are not browned. If necessary add about two tablespoons of water to keep them from browning.
• Add the potatoes, the bouquet garni and the broth. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat. Simmer for about 30 -35 minutes, until the potatoes are very tender. Discard the garni.
• Ladle half the soup out of the stock pan and reserve.
• Using an immersion blender puree the soup remaining in the stock pan.
• Return the reserved portion of soup to the stock pan. The soup will now be a nice mixture of chunky and pureed textures.
• On medium to low heat, warm the soup, then turn off the heat.
• Warm the half and half in the microwave. Slowly and while stirring pour it into the soup. 
• Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. Ladle into soup plates and if desired sprinkle some chopped chives on top. 
• Serve while still hot.

PRASORIZO (Leeks with Rice)

7th

The noble leek, a cousin to the lowbrow onion and to the even more common garlic, is native to the Middle East. Its cultivation and consumption spread to Europe courtesy of the Romans. It must have been the Romans who introduced the leek to the Welsh, and the rest was history. The leek became the national emblem of Wales. Could there ever be a greater honour for a vegetable? Consider that Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, was an inveterate eater of leeks! Do not laugh dear reader. Instead, eat some leeks. For as Shakespeare wrote in Henry V, "if you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek...it is good for your green wound and your ploody coxcomb."*

Pitifully, the Greeks, of which I am one, have not honoured the leek to the extent that the Welsh have. However, Greeks have found delightful ways with which to cook leeks. Leeks are plentiful in winter. They are tolerant of cold weather and can be harvested even when temperatures drop to 0° C. 

Usually, I visit Greece in late summer and stay through October. And it's in October when leeks appear at the vegetable stands: bundles of leeks, stacked high in long rows,  fragrant, bright green and creamy white, each day's supply sells out by noontime. The autumn and winter months find us Greeks using leeks in lots of recipes. One of the simplest to make is prasorizo, which means leeks and rice. Believe me, it's delicious!

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs leeks
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup rice
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
• juice of half a lemon
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Clean and prepare the leeks for cooking: cut off the root end and discard the rough green leaves. Save the white and light green part of the leek. Cut it in half lengthwise and rinse each half several times under cold running water. This method ensures that the soil and sand that has remained between the leaves are washed off. Drain and cut the leeks into one-inch pieces.

In a heavy pot heat the olive oil and saute the onion, celery and garlic. Cook about five minutes, stirring, until the onions are translucent.

Add the leeks and stir well, saute for about two minutes, add the broth and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 35 minutes. The leeks should be covered with liquid during cooking. If necessary add more broth, or add water if you prefer. After about 35 minutes, stir in the rice, parsley, dill, and lemon juice.

Cook for about 30 minutes more, until the rice is done and the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from the heat, taste, and season with salt and pepper as needed. Serve while still hot, and offer lemon wedges for those who wish to use more lemon juice. Better yet, you can garnish each plate of prasorizo with lemon slices.

*Note: "good for your... ploody coxcomb," meaning: ploody = mispronunciation of bloody, and coxcomb = a type of hat: therefore, "good for your... bloody hat," referring to the Welsh custom of pinning a leek on hats to celebrate St. David's Day.