Sopa de Calabaza

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This Mexican style fall soup can be prepared a day ahead of Thanksgiving and it’s perfect for a starter. Warm creamy and comforting and you can customize the recipe with herbs and spices of your choice. Garnished with red chile sauce it turns this soup into an earthy delight. Double the recipe of red chile sauce, so in the days following Thanksgiving you can make enchiladas with that left-over turkey. Let’s get started.

Ingredients

Serves 6

1½ tablespoons olive oil

1 cup onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium butternut squash – about 2½ lbs, peeled, seeded, cut in large pieces

2 medium carrots, cut in large pieces

2 sprigs sage or thyme

½ teaspoon cumin

4 cups water or chicken broth

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 tablespoon brandy (optional)

2 oz guajjillo chile for sauce

⅓ cup heavy cream

4 oz queso fresco, cut in ½ inch squares

Preparation

Guajillo Sauce

This basic red chile sauce is made with guajillo dry chiles. It’s the same sauce used in other recipes in this blog. Go to this link for instructions – Red Chile Sauce

Soup

Pour 1½ tablespoons of olive oil in a stockpot over medium heat, add onions and cook for about 6 minutes, add the garlic and simmer for 1 minute. Add the squash, carrots, sage, cumin and cook gently for 3 minutes. Add the 4 cups of stock, bring to a simmer and cook covered for 30 minutes or until the squash is tender. Remove sprigs.

Remove the stockpot from the heat and cool slightly and transfer the soup to a blender and purée or blend with a hand blender stick. Add 1 tablespoon brandy, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Add ⅓ cup of heavy cream. Let the soup cool, then refrigerate until ready to serve.

Plating

Ladle into soup bowls and lay decorative lines of guajillo sauce and gently place 4-5 cubes of queso fresco on the surface.

Notes

You can eliminate the cream in this recipe or substitute half & half or whole milk. Guajillo chile is normally “not a hot” sauce so don’t worry the soup will be too spicy.

Buen provecho

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