Bastardizing Tradition

Don't you just hate when some well-meaning individual lumps a bunch of mismatched ingredients together and then proudly presents you with this monster they're masquerading as a traditional dish. Common examples include mole (as in the Mexican dish, not the rodent paving a subway through your yard), gastrique, risotto and pesto. They're like culinary buzzwords with a target on their backs. I love updating traditional recipes to accommodate more modern palates, but in a way that is respectful and with a hope they may have done the same had the ingredients been available at the time. However, some culinary creations are so elemental that to omit these basic ingredients or techniques is Food Blasphemy and undermines their very definition.

There are ways to significantly alter and update a recipe without losing its "base". Recently, I decided to try making a batch of my Smoky Butternut Squash Black Bean Soup, minus the black beans. After a cursory perusal of the fridge, the bell pepper also was dropped from this recipe, as well as the Cheddar as the soup doesn't really need it. To replace the protein that the eliminated items would have provided, I cooked a chicken tenderloin in a sauté pan with a drizzle of olive oil and shredded it with two forks. Then, I dug in, unsure how this was going to taste with some key ingredients removed.

Three words - Make this soup. I don't care if you think squash is "icky". A warm bowl of this will forever change your perspective of squash as bland and only worthy of sickeningly sweet dishes.

The first spoonful immediately reminded me of a spicy chili. Butternut squash chili - just add chili beans with an option of ground beef or turkey, maybe a bottle of beer and you have something awesome for game day that's going to beat any bowl of liquid fire your friends lugged out of the kitchen. I started craving tortilla chips while eating this new kitchen experiment, so I added a few to the bowl. A couple bites in, I realised I had made a butternut version of Aztec soup. The spices were right and not too hot, the flavour was distinctly Aztec soup and it even called out for the same traditional toppings.

You're probably more familiar with Aztec soup by its other name, tortilla soup or sopa de tortilla. From what I understand, they're the same spicy concoction. It's a bit less of an exercise to say sopa Azteca than sopa de tortilla, though, and gives it some Mexican cultural pride by identifying its true roots. My husband worked in Mexico City for a short time; would you believe it wasn't until I came along that he had even heard of Aztec soup?! A close relative to sopa Azteca is sopa de lima, or Yucatecan lime soup, which uses more lime and a different chile (and is also easier to say in Spanish than in English). That will be a future experiment here - in the meantime, make yourself a bowl of this:


Butternut Squash Aztec Soup

Do NOT call it Aztec soup - it is not Aztec soup. This is BUTTERNUT Aztec Soup. Do not serve this to your friends and tell them they are having authentic Aztec/tortilla soup. This recipe will yield 5.5 1-cup servings. Save the small serving to enjoy with a sandwich, such as a chicken and avocado panini to incorporate the soup's traditional toppings.

1 1/2 lb butternut squash
1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes
2 cups reduced sodium chicken or turkey broth, preferably homemade
2 tsp hickory liquid smoke, optional
1 dried guajillo chile*
1 dried ancho chile*
1 tbsp olive oil
1 leek (with leaf and bulb) or 1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp grey sea salt
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp ground cumin

Bake butternut squash at 350F for about 20 minutes, just until squash is becoming soft and sweet. Pulse dried chiles to a powder in a spice mill or old coffee grinder. Rinse leek (or onion) under water well, then thinly slice entire leek (leaves and bulb), giving another rinse in a colander. Sauté leek and garlic in a drizzle of olive oil until tender in a large pot. Add squash to the pot, along with the liquid hickory smoke, ground chiles, cumin, chicken stock (or stock of choice) and stewed tomatoes; purée with immersion blender. Season with grey sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Heat through until bubbling.

This is excellent on its own, but can also be topped with shredded chicken (I use a small tenderloin), avocado, tortilla chips and a squeeze of lime. A spoonful of sour cream or Mexican crema is a nice contrast to this spicy soup. If you are making this gluten free, make sure your tortilla chips have not been produced on wheat-contaminated lines and that the spices and broth are wheat-free.

*If you're having trouble finding dried guajillo and ancho chiles, check Aldi (where I buy large bags of them), or the international or produce section of your local grocery. They are worth the hunt!

Nutritional data (per 1 cup serving): 122 calories; 3.4 g fat; 0 mg cholesterol; 20 g carbs; 2 g fiber; 2 g protein