This is a variation of Diana Kennedy's "Crema de flor de calabaza," from her first book on Mexican cooking, "The Cuisines of Mexico." But as squash blossoms are also used in Italian cooking, I like this slightly Italianized variation. Her recipe calls for chicken broth rather than vegetable (either would fine, but I like this vegetarian version, which won't overpower the delicate flavor of the blossoms); poblano peppers rather than peperoncini al mercato; and crème fraiche or heavy cream rather than milk. She also adds the garlic in with the onions in the first cooking step, but I put them in a bit later, when adding the flowers.
This variation makes a lighter cream soup, and to my mind, is more refreshing.
It serves 6.
To clean the flowers, dust them (if you know they were grown organically) or rinse them, then pull off the sepals, those long thin green strings growing up out of the base of the flower on the outside. Leave one inch of the stem when trimming them off. Ants and a few other little bugs like squash blossoms, so you may want to give them a once over on the inside of the flower as well as outside.
Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan. Add the onion, and saute gently until just translucent. Add the flowers, garlic and salt, cover the pan and cook over a low flame until the flowers are tender -- 10-15 minutes. When they're ready, set aside 1/2 cup of the mixture.
Put the remaining flowers and 1-1/2 cup of the broth into a blender, blend them well, and return the mixture to the pan. Add the remaining broth and cook over a low flame for 8 minutes.
Slice the pepper(s) in half, remove the seeds and char them over an open flame. Leave the black char on the skin and chop them finely, then saute in the olive oil (add more oil if you're doing more than one or two peppers).
Stir the milk into the soup and gently heat until it simmers.
To serve, put equal portions of the pepper and the reserved flower/onion mixture into the bottom of each serving bowl, and put the bowls on the table. Ladle the soup over this at the table.
Ingredients
Directions
This is a variation of Diana Kennedy's "Crema de flor de calabaza," from her first book on Mexican cooking, "The Cuisines of Mexico." But as squash blossoms are also used in Italian cooking, I like this slightly Italianized variation. Her recipe calls for chicken broth rather than vegetable (either would fine, but I like this vegetarian version, which won't overpower the delicate flavor of the blossoms); poblano peppers rather than peperoncini al mercato; and crème fraiche or heavy cream rather than milk. She also adds the garlic in with the onions in the first cooking step, but I put them in a bit later, when adding the flowers.
This variation makes a lighter cream soup, and to my mind, is more refreshing.
It serves 6.
To clean the flowers, dust them (if you know they were grown organically) or rinse them, then pull off the sepals, those long thin green strings growing up out of the base of the flower on the outside. Leave one inch of the stem when trimming them off. Ants and a few other little bugs like squash blossoms, so you may want to give them a once over on the inside of the flower as well as outside.
Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan. Add the onion, and saute gently until just translucent. Add the flowers, garlic and salt, cover the pan and cook over a low flame until the flowers are tender -- 10-15 minutes. When they're ready, set aside 1/2 cup of the mixture.
Put the remaining flowers and 1-1/2 cup of the broth into a blender, blend them well, and return the mixture to the pan. Add the remaining broth and cook over a low flame for 8 minutes.
Slice the pepper(s) in half, remove the seeds and char them over an open flame. Leave the black char on the skin and chop them finely, then saute in the olive oil (add more oil if you're doing more than one or two peppers).
Stir the milk into the soup and gently heat until it simmers.
To serve, put equal portions of the pepper and the reserved flower/onion mixture into the bottom of each serving bowl, and put the bowls on the table. Ladle the soup over this at the table.
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