Soup du Jour: Moroccan Maple-Roasted Butternut Squash (vegan)

I fucking love soup; soup kicks ass.

Tonight I'm making, well, you read the fucking title didn't you.

That's what I'm making.

"Moroccan maple-roasted? Are there a lot of maple trees in Morocco?"

It's fusion, fucknut, and it's fucking delicious.

Here's what you'll need:

1 good sized butt squish (for the daft, that's a butternut squash)

4 tbsp maple syrup - splurge for the good stuff. You can substitute shitty pancake syrup if you want, but it'll fucking suck. That shit is just empty garbage calories with no flavour.

1 bulb celeriac, diced - also called celery root. Although not from the same plant where we get our everyday celery, it is a relative and has a distinct celery flavour. Celeriac is grossly underutilized, I think mostly because it's ugly. But like so many things, it is beautiful on the inside (no, ugly girls, I don't mean you).

1 medium onion, diced - I like to use red onion for nearly everything; I very seldom buy anything else. The only regular exception being Walla Walla Sweets, but they're only around in the summer - at least in these parts. 

1/2 head of garlic, minced - more or less to suit your tastes. I love garlic and think garlic breath is sexy.

3/4 cup red lentils - these will disappear in the soup and are mostly in this recipe as a thickener and nutritional additive.

3/4 cup puy lentils - if you can't find these beautiful French lentils you can substitute regular green lentils, but I wouldn't bother. Just leave them out; the soup will still be rad.

6 ripe plum tomatoes - I'm using canned San Marzano; ripe local tomatoes simply don't exist in Vancouver in March.

1 can (400ml) coconut milk

Fresh coriander or parsley for garnishing

1 lemon - get an organic one as we'll be using the zest. Using the zest on conventional lemons is tantamount to taking a shot of Roundup (citation missing).

8 cups veg stock - the pre-packaged shit is way overpriced; make your own - it's as cheap as it is easy. Wanna know how? Here's how:

Start by keeping your vegetable scraps in the freezer. If you don't use enough vegetables to make a pot of stock every week you are likely not eating enough vegetables. The fun thing about doing it this way is that your stock is little bit different each time. If you need an emergency stock and don't have any veg go to the store and buy a couple of onions, a handful of carrots, some celery and a tomato or two. Rough chop 'em and throw 'em in a large pot. Add a teaspoon of whole coriander seed, a couple of bay leaves, a few black peppercorns, and a sprig of thyme - or rosemary if you like. Cover the works with water until the vegetables are just more than covered. Crank up the stove. Bring it to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Let it sit on the stove and simmer until reduced by about 1/8 to 1/4 depending on how rich you want your stock, about an hour. Strain off the veg and discard.

Marvel at your new found independence.

Now the spices, and this is a well-spiced soup.

Ras el Hanout literally means "head of the shop" in some language I don't know - generally the favourite spice blend of the proprietor. Like most spice blends, there are as many variations as there are chefs. Here's what you'll ned to make it my way. Substitute spices as fits your preference.

1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp coriander seed

1/2 tbsp cumin seed

1 whole star anise

2 inch stick of cinnamon bark

1/2 dozen cloves

1/2 dozen allspice berries

1/2 tsp cayenne - I use ground, but one whole dry or fresh chili will work as well

1/2 teaspoon sichuan pepper - normally this is a Chinese spice, but I just bought some for the first time and I really like them, so I'm putting them in fucking everything.

1/2 tsp nutmeg (half a nut if you're using whole, and you should be)

1 teaspoon turmeric - ground turmeric is mostly flavourless, and fresh turmeric is incredibly messy to work with. So why turmeric, then? It makes for nice colour and it has great health benefits - it's the reason that canned chicken soup helps people feel better. I mean, it has to be; that high-sodium, random chicken part, soggy noodle garbage can't possibly be healthy.

Take the woody spices and throw them in a medium hot, dry cast iron pan in order of descending woodiness:

cinnamon, anise, cloves, coriander, cumin, allspice. Don't toast the ground spices - you'll just  burn 'em.

Let the spices toast until you can smell 'em - about 3 minutes. Dump 'em into your mortar and let 'em cool. Still don't have a mortar and pestle? C'mon now. They are pretty cheap and pretty useful.

Add the other spices and smash that shit.

The whole time you're busy with that you should have had your squish in the oven.

You didn't?

What the fuck?

You've got some catching up to do.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Split your buttsquish in half lengthwise. Scrape out the guts. You may notice that the seeds are similar to pumpkin seeds; they are indeed. You can roast them up just the same and they're fucking great.

Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Dump a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup into each of the buttsquish cavities.

Note the uneven cut. It doesn't fucking matter - it'll be mush when it's done anyhow.

Oil up a sheet pan and get ready for the fun part. The goal here is to flip your buttsquishies onto the pan, seasoned side down, without letting any of the syrup out. It makes no difference to the cooking process, it's just fun. Stick your squish in the oven and roast for about an hour.

When it's done, the skin will be wrinkly and it'll squish when you poke it (that's what she said).

Check out my wrinkly butt.

Flip 'em over and scrape up the innards. Set the whole mess aside; you'll be adding it to the soup later.

Warm your veg stock on the stove, and heat a large pot (9-10L or larger) to medium.

When it's hot, add enough vegetable oil to just cover the bottom of the pot - a few tablespoons. Let the oil heat for a minute and then throw in the onion and celeriac. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the onions are softened, stirring occasionally, but not all the fucking time - you gotta let that shit cook. The onion will brown, the celeriac not so much. The celeriac will also still be firm, but don't fret, it'll soften up nicely when you add liquid later on.

Now that the onions are soft, throw in the garlic and Ras el Hanout. Let the spices cook for a couple minutes - until you can really smell them - and then it's tomato time. If you're using canned tomatoes, like me, they are already skinned and you can just throw them in (no need to chop 'em as the whole mess will get blended at the end). If it's summertime and you're using fresh tomatoes, here's a little trick to get the skin off:

Cut the stem end off your tomatoes and slice an X into the other side. Put them in a bowl and cover them with boiling water. Let them sit for a minute and then remove them from the hot bath. The skins will peel right off.

Sexy, no?

Back to the soup.

Stir in your tomatoes and let them cook for a few minutes. You can use this time to mash them up with your spatula if you like, or you can get your lentils ready.

Stir in the lentils.

Add the stock.

All of it.

Bring it to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Let it cook for 20 minutes and then add your squishy butt and coconut milk.

Cook for another 10 minutes or so - still at a simmer.

It's blending time.

My partner and I are at ideological odds when it comes to this. She likes to have individual components to her soup; I sometimes do as well, but mostly I puree the shit out of all my soups. That being said, she always eats my soup, but encourages me to leave some identifiable pieces of food in the next one.

Grab your immersion blender already and get to blending.

Don't have an immersion blender? 

A regular blender will work, but make sure to blend in small batches, never filling the jug.

You're blending hot liquid; it tends to expand when you blend it. So, only fill the jug half way or so, and take out the little cap in the middle of the lid and cover it with a kitchen towel that you don't mind getting dirty.

Now that you've got your soup, taste it.

Good?

Needs salt?

Add salt then.

 Remember, adding salt only makes things salty if you use too much. Mostly, adding salt enhances and brings together the other flavours.

Squeeze in your lemon, using the zest if you bought organic - there's a lot more citrus yumminess in the zest than in the juice.

Here's a handy tip for getting the most juice out of your citrus: roll it on the counter before you cut it open - and use good pressure. Also, zesting seems to loosen things up as well.

Taste that shit again.

Good?

Good.

Garnish.

I normally use cilantro in this soup, but I didn't have any. I used parsley instead - Italian flat leaf.

Parsley has a subtle flavour but mostly serves to liven up the presentation whereas cilantro actually adds nice complementary flavour.

Now you're garnished.

My garnish is sloppy as fuck; yours needn't be.

How's that shit look?

Good?

Good.

Eat it.