A creamy red kuri squash soup cooked skin and all, thickened with potato and finished with cream and nutmeg.
On the first evening you turn the heat back on, you want a bowl that warms your hands before it warms your belly. This soup comes to the table bright orange and thick, with that sweet, chestnut-like flavor the cream and nutmeg round out.
The pumpkin seeds crunch between your teeth, and the parsley adds a touch of green. Itโs a weeknight soup, and yet youโll find yourself thinking about it the next day.
What Is Red Kuri Squash Soup?
Itโs a creamy pureed soup from the family of fall vegetable soups. Red kuri squash, potatoes, a carrot, an onion and garlic simmer in vegetable broth, then everything is blended until smooth and finished with crรจme fraรฎche. The squash goes in skin and all, with no peeling: the skin is thin, softens as it cooks and disappears in the blender.
Its French name, potimarron, combines potiron (pumpkin) and marron (chestnut), because its flesh tastes of chestnut. The Japanese call it kuri kabocha, โchestnut squashโ: kuri is the same word as in kuri gohan, chestnut rice.
From Hokkaido to French Markets
Red kuri squash belongs to the species Cucurbita maxima, whose ancestors come from South America. Portuguese sailors are said to have brought these squashes to Japan around 1600. Japanese growers developed them into kuri kabocha, with dense, floury flesh, including a red-skinned variety grown on the island of Hokkaido.
In France, its arrival is generally dated to 1957, when a Japanese family brought over some seeds. It was first sold as โsweet Hokkaido pumpkinโ before the name potimarron caught on. So red kuri squash soup is a recent classic.
Itโs a soup for fall through early winter, when the squash is in peak season at the markets. A single saucepan is all you need, and one squash makes four bowls.
The Main Ingredients in Red Kuri Squash Soup
A red kuri squash weighing about 1 kg is the base. This seasonal vegetable has edible reddish-orange skin that gives the soup its color and part of its flavor: just rinse it well. The potatoes thicken the soup with their own starch, no flour or cornstarch required. The carrot adds sweetness, while the onion and garlic form the aromatic base.
The vegetables simmer in vegetable broth after a turn in olive oil. The crรจme fraรฎche goes in at the end for a velvety finish, and plant-based cream takes its place for a dairy-free version. Salt, black pepper and a pinch of nutmeg are all the seasoning it needs.
At serving time, pumpkin seeds add crunch, parsley or chives add freshness, and an optional squeeze of lemon juice brightens everything up. With a second squash, make some homemade squash puree.
Technique Pointers for a Silky-Smooth Soup
Sautรฉ the onion without letting it brown, until it turns translucent. The vegetables then get 2 minutes in the oil before the broth goes in.
The soup is done when the tip of a knife slides through the squash, skin included, and the potato with no resistance.
Blend for a good while, until the skin has completely disappeared. Add the cream after blending, then reheat the soup over low heat without letting it boil, or the cream may curdle. Serve it piping hot.
Ingredients
Preparing the vegetables
- 1 red kuri squash about 1 kg
- 2 potatoes about 300 g
- 1 carrot
- 1 onion medium
- 1 clove garlic
Cooking
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 L vegetable broth
Blending and seasoning
- 100 ml crรจme fraรฎche or plant-based cream
- 1 teaspoon salt adjust to taste
- 0.5 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 pinch nutmeg
To serve
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
- A few sprigs parsley or chives
- 1 squeeze lemon juice optional
Instructions
Preparing the vegetables
- Rinse the red kuri squash thoroughly under running water, without peeling it: the skin is edible.1 red kuri squash
- Cut it in half and remove the seeds.
- Cut the squash into pieces, skin and all.
- Peel the potatoes.2 potatoes
- Cut them into pieces.
- Cut the carrot into pieces.1 carrot
- Thinly slice the onion.1 onion
- Crush the garlic clove.1 clove garlic
Cooking
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large saucepan.2 tablespoons olive oil
- Sautรฉ the onion in the oil for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring, without letting it take on any color, until translucent.
- Add the garlic and sautรฉ for 30 seconds, stirring, without letting it brown.
- Add the pieces of squash, potato and carrot.
- Stir for 2 minutes so that all the vegetables are well coated with oil.
- Pour in the broth.1 L vegetable broth
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender: the tip of a knife should slide in with no resistance, both into the squash pieces, skin included, and into the potato pieces.
Blending and seasoning
- Remove the saucepan from the heat.
- Blend the soup with an immersion blender or in a countertop blender until the squash skin has completely disappeared and the soup is perfectly smooth.
- Stir in the cream.100 ml crรจme fraรฎche
- Season with the salt, pepper and nutmeg.1 teaspoon salt, 0.5 teaspoon black pepper, 1 pinch nutmeg
- Return the saucepan to low heat and warm through for 2 to 3 minutes without letting it boil, or the cream may curdle.
To serve
- Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
- Serve the soup piping hot in bowls.
- Sprinkle each bowl with pumpkin seeds and parsley or chives.2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds, A few sprigs parsley
- Add a squeeze of lemon juice just before serving, if you like, to brighten the flavor.1 squeeze lemon juice
