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Pre-Thanksgiving soup party
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Butternut squash soup and red lettuce salad. Photo by Kit Pollard.
In a couple of weeks, we're going to be up way past our eyeballs in a delicious cranberry-and-tryptophan cocktail. But turkey's not the only great fall food, and there's no reason why all of the month's socializing has to be limited to the last Thursday. November's a great month - chilly but not too cold, the leaves are pretty, and nobody's terribly bogged by holiday shopping and parties. It's the perfect time for an afternoon soup party. Have everybody over the weekend before Thanksgiving, or maybe even the Sunday after, when all your friends need a good excuse to get back home early...and away from their relatives (kidding!).
Now I feel like I need to make a confession. I love the idea of a lunchtime party - something that starts around 12 or 1 and lasts until early evening, when everybody shuffles home and I shuffle off to bed, leaving the dishes for the morning. The reality is, though, that weekend days are always busy, mostly with running errands and fixing the random things that go wrong with our house every other day. But maybe one day, I'll get it together to host a daytime party.
If and when that ever happens, here's what I'd do: make three different soups and a big salad, buy some crusty bread and a bunch of red wine, throw it all out on the table, and let everybody serve themselves. Nothing fancy, very casual. The soups can stay warm on the stove and everyone can eat, well, as many times as they want.
Again, if and when that ever happens, I'll definitely make this butternut squash soup, which appeared in the September issue of Gourmet. I made it this past Saturday and it was really pretty fantastic. I did use half chicken stock and half water (instead of all water like the recipe recommends) and I roasted my own chestnuts (but only because I couldn't find bottled chestnuts at Giant or Trader Joe's). It's a simple recipe - doesn't take long at all - and it has tons of flavor. Plus, the soup is actually kind of healthy. Yes, as you can see in the picture, you do top it with whipped cream, but since it's a topping, not in the soup, you have total control over how much you add (I, of course, added a ton).
OK - time for another confession. If and when I actually do have a soup party, I'll totally be buying all my soup at Atwaters. But maybe, if I was feeling very industrious, I'd just buy two soups, so I'd be forced to make the butternut squash. I'm sure I wouldn't be sorry.
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