Sorry for the long gap between posts.  I was off enjoying the holidays and the time off.  I hope all of you were able to do the same.

One of my adventures was to the Windy City with my wife and her friend since high school, Stephanie.  Stephanie lives in warm, sunny California, and wants everyone to move there.  Walking around Chicago with snow blowing everywhere, I wished for a moment that I was blessed with the warmth of the Golden State.

We drove downtown and found our way to the corner of Clark and Illinois, where Xoco is located.  If you’ve ever been to Bayless’s other restaurants, Frontera Grill or Topolobampo, Xoco (pronounced sho-ko, meaning “little sister”) is right on the corner of the same block.  Looking through the window you can see the preparation of chocolate and churros (see my earlier post on churros) for eager guests.

When you enter, the space looks very small, just enough for a small kitchen and a winding line to wait in before you order.  While waiting in line you can look at surreal images, like the one at right of children in a churro-cactus forest, or one of a woman riding a torta flying through the air (see that one in the gallery at the bottom of the post).  As you enter, there are only a few tables visible, but it turns out that there is another section of tables further back, but the total seating capacity is probably only 40. (more…)

This article originally appeared in Smile Politely here.  I’d urge you to click through and read it there since they’ll get some ad revenue or something.  I understand if you just want to get to it, though, so enjoy.

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My 6-year-old daughter and I were in one of the local natural food stores and we were browsing the produce. She spied the butternut squash, and we saw one that was probably 3.5 feet long, it must have weighed at least 7 pounds. She identified it as a butternut and said she wanted to get one. I was hesitant to grab the monster specimen, but I did grab a large one, over 4 pounds. It came home and sat on the counter for a week or two. With something so large, I needed to do something that used a lot of squash with little effort… like soup!

Butternut squash, like its cousins the acorn, pumpkin, or kabocha, is very easy to handle and cook, and their sweetness is usually understated, allowing them to meld with a variety of other flavors. Aside from another favorite dish I usually make with pumpkin, I always bake my squash. It draws out some of the water content and browns the edges of the fruit. Some people say you can bake them whole in a slow oven (too hot and they’d explode), but I always cut them first. It allows for more surface area to season and get browned in the oven.

Butternut Squash, baked

I cut the stem and blossom ends off, cut them into pieces, scraping out the pulp and seeds. I lay them flesh-up on a sheet pan lined with parchment.

If I’m making a sweet dish, I’ll sprinkle them with brown sugar. If it’s savory, I’ll drizzle them with olive oil and give a heavy sprinkle of salt and freshly ground pepper.

Turn them over, flesh-down (metal conducts heat better than air), and bake at 350 for 1-2 hours, until tender. This will give a light carmelization to the flesh that will complement the flavor of most recipes. You could bake it hotter or longer to bring more carmelization to the party.

Once it’s cooked and tender, let it cool until you can handle it and simply scrape the flesh away from the skins. You could mash this and serve as-is as a simple yet tasty side dish.

We’ll go beyond that, adding some spice, some heat, and a little coconut milk to make a dish that could stand on its own as the star of a meal. I used a recipe that I found a few months ago while looking for other Indian recipes. I made some heavy edits, so if you’re interested in the raw original, please click through to their site.

FXcuisine’s Indian Butternut Squash Soup

3T Butter, ghee, or oil
2T Fresh ginger, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
2-4 cloves garlic, sliced
1-3 green chilies, diced

4# Butternut Squash, baked as above
Pepper
Salt

12-15 fresh curry leaves
1/2 of a 14.5 oz can coconut milk

1. Heat butter or oil over medium heat in a medium pot.
2. Add ginger, onions, garlic, and chilies. Sauté for a few minutes until softened and barely browned.
3. Add the squash, salt, and pepper, and mash to combine. Add water to cover, bring to a simmer, and simmer on low for 10 minutes.
4. At this point, I like to get out my immersion blender and blend it until relatively smooth. You can use a regular blender, or a potato masher. If you want an even smoother texture, strain through a sieve.
5. Return the puree to the pot and add the curry leaves and coconut milk. To fully get the flavor from the curry leaves, I like to simmer the soup for another 10-20 minutes on very low heat.

The curry leaves are not really edible, nor do they blend well. You could pick them out before serving, or count on guests to handle them. I garnished mine with a sliver of jalapeño.

This is a really great example of how a real curried soup should taste. It has deep flavors from the aromatics, and the curry leaves give it a very special flavor. The sweetness of the squash mellows the heat of the chilies. Your typical, yellow, turmeric-laden, grocery store curry powder can’t replicate this.

Curry leaves can be very hard to find. Locally, I’ve found them at Am-Ko, but I’m sure you could find them online. They are not a part of curry powder, which is simply a blend of dry spices, they are an herb to themselves. Their aroma and flavor is hard to describe, and they don’t normally keep long. I’ve found that they stay usable if you freeze them in a zip-top bag. Find them fresh, locally if you can, and try them in all sorts of dishes.