Now, that may sound like a very unusual combination to you. Those of you who grew up in NY, at a certain point in time, however, will recognize what Annalena says, when she speaks of grammar school history classes. Those of you with expansive interests in cooking will recognize things, too.
In Annalena's ragazzo days, it was required that students take a full year course in New York history. Apparently, it was the rule. Are there others who went through this course of study too? Well, in the class, you learned, or at least were taught, the history of the "five nations:" the Native Americans who confederated in New York, before our European ancestors came and did what they did. Annalena remembers precious little of those classes, except for the nuns talking about how the beatific monks and priests like Sir Isaac Joques were tortured (she remembers the part about ripping out the fingernails most), and wonders why we never got the other side of the story, and also remembers, surprise, surprise, surprise, FOOD.
The five nations relied on what they referred to as the "three sisters" for sustenance: corn, squash and beans. I always remembered this, and perhaps it was a sign of what was to come. In any event, as I have learned more about food, and different food "by ways," I have learned that the so-called "three sisters" are somewhat ubiquitous in Native American history and culinary lore. Regardless of where the nation was, the trio exists. The TYPE of corn, the TYPE of bean and the TYPE of squash may differ, but it's there.
Had I an extra lifetime, I might investigate this. There's a dissertation in food anthropology out there for someone.
So, if you think about that, and if you think about nutrition profiles, the combination makes sense. Beans are loaded with protein and are low in fat. Squash is not a good source of protein, but provides Vitamins, like A and D. Corn offers up its "healthy" fat. So there you are.
Well, in designing this soup, Annalena thought about adding corn meal, but decided not to. The reasons will become clear as we go on. The squash, was pumpkin, as it was "cook with Max" day, and Max wanted to cook with pumpkin.
This has NOT been a good year for pumpkin. It seems that, wherever you were in the country, the weather was bad at "the" critical point in time for pumpkins. Hence, they were in short supply. Annalena read that the entire California crop was essentially left rotting on the vines. And indeed, Annalena's farmer friends spoke of low yields, and high prices. Indeed, part of the reason Annalena has disappeared is as a result of a project she undertook for a friend, relating to pumpkins, for which she was not thanked. Nor was she invited to the eventual party to which the pumpkins were used. So, if you are inclined to make this soup, and you do not have pumpkin, use another squash. It will be good. It will not be the same, but it will be good. And if you involve someone in helping you, thank them. It doesn't cost anything.
To the beans: Annalena had fresh, frozen shell beans. These, too, suffered this year, but she had gotten some before the bad weather took them out. If you make this soup, use the dry bean of your choosing. I would suggest a lighter colored one: cannelinis, borlottis, something along those lines; however, I am sure darker beans will work as well. You will need to soak them the night before. Are canned beans an option? Well... no. The more Annalena reads about the industrial canning process, even with organic beans, she fears to use them, unless it is a TRUE emergency.
You will not need a whole pumpkin for this soup. You will need a piece that is about 2-3 pounds. You can buy such from various sources. Farmers will sell slices of their pumpkins. And if you can't, well, buy a small pumpkin and use the rest of it to make other pumpkin dishes, like the ones in this blog.
Your 3 pound slice of pumpkin will have a thick skin on it. If you go at it with a vegetable parer, you will regret it. So get out your biggest knife, and pretend you are working with a melon, to skin it. Then cut the pumpkin into small cubes - say 1/3 of an inch.
While you are doing this, get the beans. I did forget measurements above, and I am sorry. Start with a cup and a half of dried beans, and soak them overnight. Then, put them in a pot with scads of water, about an hour before you plan to finish off the soup. Put them to a low simmer and get back to the pumpkin.
You will also need the "holy trinity" of soup making, but not all of them. Review: do you all remember the holy trinity?: onion, celery and carrot. We leave out the carrot here, because the pumpkin is sweet and we don't want too sweet a soup. Hence, we double the celery. Or, we replace the carrot with fennel. We can also substitute the onion with leeks. You want a total of 1.5 cups of roughly chopped vegetable: .5 of the onion element, and a total of 1 cup of the others. Get about 3 tablespoons of olive oil or vegetable oil hot in a big pan, and add those veggies, together with a big pinch of salt, and perhaps a few bay leaves. Annalena also likes rosemary in this soup. Your choice there. You may also prefer thyme instead. Thyme will make the soup less "insistent" if you know what I mean.
When the onion has lost its clear color and gone sort of translucent, add your pumpkin. Swirl it around in the oil, and then add about 6 cups of stock, or a mix of stock and water. I prefer chicken stock, and I prefer ALL stock in this recipe, but again, you can do this with vegetable stock. Indeed, what some will do is take the seeds and skin of the pumpkin and simmer that in water to get a squash stock. Annalena has done that, and has decided it is not worth the trouble. She DOES, however, cook the skin and seeds in the chicken stock when time permits.
In any event, add your stock, and now drain the cooked beans, and add those to the soup pot as well. Taste the liquid, and adjust for salt if you see fit. Put the cover on the pot, slightly ajar, and then go away for thirty minutes. You then want to taste the beans, as they will need the longest time to cook. If they are not tender enough for you, continue to cook them. Hence, you cook to the taste of the beans.
When you are ready, you have a couple of options with the soup. One is to simply remove the herbs and serve it up as it is, and it will be fine. You may also choose to let it cook and puree part of it. Also delicious. What I like to do, however, is precisely what I suggested with the split pea soup. If you run a spoon through the tender vegetables, at low heat, they will break up, and you will get a soup with different textures: pieces of pumpkin, whole beans, bean puree, pumpkin puree, and it will be wonderful.
That wasn't very difficult now, was it? And ultimately, the most expensive ingredient in this soup was the pumpkin. If 3 pounds of pumpkin costs you 5.00, that is a lot, so I think we can call this an economical dish as well, can't we?
A bit more work, and a bit more money than the pea soup, but we're still doing fine, yes?
Next up, more work, more money, but a soup worthy of the Thanksgiving table. Which is where it shall be.
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