Recipes to Rival: Squash Soup with Creme Fraiche

My first Recipes to Rival challenge and I am late! I made this soup weeks ago for the Bronx Potluck, but was unable to post on December 1. Well, here it is. This soup was excellent if only a little time consuming. There are many steps, but they are all well worth it. Although the soup was good the day I made it, I thought it tasted too strongly of the mirepoix - you could really taste the leeks and onions. A few days later, however, the flavors really mellowed to present a delicious, subtle, creamy soup. A week later it only improved further. It kept well in the fridge and I'm sure it would freeze well also.

Squash Soup with Vanilla Creme Fraiche

Please see the original inspiration at the Top Chef Website.

Prep Time: one hour and 30 minutes (A little longer...)
Serves: more than 8 (way more than 8 - I brought this to two potlucks!)
Spike & Andrew's recipe:

Mirepoix:
3 sliced leek bottoms (rinsed)
4 carrots (peeled and sliced)
10 shallots (peeled and sliced)
1 clove garlic
1/2 lb butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup miso stir*
Salt and pepper

Squash:
5 acorn
5 butternut (or any combo - I used 9 acorn)
Oil for rubbing
Salt and pepper

Vegetable Stock:
4 quarts water
2 white onions
4 carrots, peeled
2 leeks
6-8 button mushrooms
Bouquet garnish (parsley, bay leaves, peppercorns)

Vanilla Creme Fraiche:
Creme fraiche
2 vanilla beans

Additional Ingredients:
Salt to taste
Cayenne to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Vegetable Stock:
In a pot, boil all ingredients together with the exception of the bouquet garnishes. (NOTE: allow to simmer for at least 1 hour)

Mirepoix:
Sweat all of the vegetables with butter. This entire dish can be made vegan by cooking the vegetables in oil rather than butter. I even left the mirepoix out of the vegan portion I set aside and it was still very good. Sweat down and deglaze with honey. Stir and add miso. *Miso stir is simply miso paste mixed with a little stock. This allows the miso paste to easily mix in with the vegetables rather than clump up. Season with salt and pepper.


Squash:
Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds and reserve one butternut head for garnish. Rub squash with oil and season with salt and pepper. Place one piece of sage under every piece of squash. Place squash face down on a sheet tray and roast at 350 degrees until done. Scoop flesh out and pass through a ricer. I did not pass through a ricer. I added the soft flesh to the soup and mixed it all with an immersion blender, which was fine.


Soup:
Combine squash and vegetable stock to desired consistency. Add mirepoix and cook. Blend with a vita prep and strain through a chinois. I did not do this. Instead, I blended in the pot with an immersion blender. It saves time and your hands from scalding. Season with salt and cayenne.



Vanilla Creme Fraiche:
Whip creme fraiche and scrape vanilla beans and fold in. I also added a few teaspoons additional vanilla extract.

To Plate:
Add 6 ounces of soup in bowl and spoon in creme fraiche.

Recipes: Onion Chowder, Cheesy Onion Popovers, and Macaroni and Cheese

Last night I got a little overambitious with dinner. I had seen a recipe in the magazine, Everyday with Rachel Ray, for Onion Chowder with Cheesy Onion Popovers. It sounded easy enough and delicious. Somehow I also thought making macaroni and cheese would be a great addition. It was, it just took a little while.

Onion Chowder with Cheesy Onion Popovers
Adapted from Everyday with Rachel Ray

Ingredients
4 Onions (I used 2 white and 2 yellow), chopped
Salt
1 1/4 cups flour
One 32-ounce container chicken or vegetable broth
1 tbs Hungarian paprika
1 tbs garlic salt
2 cups milk
3 large eggs
2 tbs butter, melted
2 ounces parmesan or cheddar cheese, cut into twelve cubes
1/4 cup finely chopped chives

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425º. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin pan. Add the onions and salt to a large dutch oven and cook for about 8 minutes. Set aside 1/4 cup of the cooked onions.

Sprinkle the remaining onions in the pot with 1/4 cup flour, stirring for one minute. Stir in the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Stir in paprika and garlic salt. Lower the heat and simmer for at least 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the reserved onions, 1 cup milk, 1 cup flour, eggs, butter, and 1/4 tsp salt. Whisk until batter is smooth (the original recipe said to mix in a blender, but I prefer to keep the onions). Fill each muffin cup halfway with batter and place a cube of cheese in the middle. Bake for 25 minutes, then lower the heat to 350º and bake for 15 minutes more.

Stir the remaining 1 cup milk into the soup. Heat through. (I also added about a 1/8 cup heavy cream). Garnish with chives.



Macaroni and Cheese
Adapted from Gourmet Cookbook, recipe available at: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Macaroni-and-Cheese-14930

Ingredients

• 1 pound ziti or other pasta
  

For topping

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cups bread crumbs
• 1 cup coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar (about 4 ounces)

For cheese sauce

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
• 2 3/4 cups whole milk
• 3/4 cups heavy cream
• 4 cups coarsely grated extra-sharp cheese(about 1 pound) (we used a mixture of cheddars, + aged Gouda and Parmesan).
  
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F. and butter a 3-quart shallow baking dish. Fill a 6-quart kettle three fourths full with salted water and bring to a boil for macaroni.

Make topping:
Melt butter and in a bowl stir together with panko or regular bread crumbs and Cheddar until combined well. Topping may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.

Make sauce:
In a 5-quart heavy saucepan melt butter over moderately low heat and stir in flour and red pepper flakes. Cook roux, stirring, 3 minutes and whisk in milk. Bring sauce to a boil, whisking constantly, and simmer, whisking occasionally, 3 minutes. Stir in cream, cheese, mustard, salt, and pepper. Remove pan from heat and cover surface of sauce with wax paper.

Cook macaroni in boiling water until al dente. Reserve 1 cup cooking water and drain macaroni in colander. In a large bowl stir together macaroni and cheese sauce. Transfer mixture to baking dish.

Sprinkle topping evenly over macaroni and bake in middle of oven 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.

Notes from the kitchen:

• The soup recipe was originally bland, which is why I added Paprika and garlic salt. It would be fun to experiment with other spices and flavors. Potatoes or chicken might be good too.
  
• The soup also originally called for bacon. I generally avoid bacon in my soups, but I think it would have been quite good here. Or pancetta.
• The Mac and Cheese and the soup were both even better the next day.
• Panko breadcrumbs would definitely be better than regular ones. Also, the mustard was a nice touch.
• I used ziti from Trader Joe's, which definitely has a distinctive taste. Not bad, but it oddly has notes of cinnamon or something. Next time I will try a more neutral tasting pasta.
  
• Next time I want to try adding some sauteed mushrooms with truffle oil right before baking the macaroni and cheese.