This week’s French Fridays with Dorie is a simple soup using a gorgeous squash called a Red Kuri (according to Wikipedia, also commonly called Japanese Squash, Orange Hokkaido Squash,Baby Red Hubbard Squash, or the Uchiki Kuri Squash. In Japan, the word kuri may refer to either the squash or to Japanese chestnuts. In France it is called potimarron (potiron being the word for a winter squash and marron meaning chestnut), and in the United Kingdom it is commonly called Onion Squash.
(Red Kuri Squash image from Shutterstock)
Whatever you call it, I use Red Kuri quite often because it’s a lovely size for two people (case in point, for this Vegetable Baked Squash) and I also love the bright orange colour. The skin is also edible – once it’s roasted or cooked in a soup, it’s soft enough to purée or eat as is. Saves a lot of time!
This soup is made with simple ingredients – milk, water, leeks and squash. It’s garnished with a little crème fraîche and some toasted hazelnuts. And it’s utterly creamy and delicious.
Get the recipe for Dorie Greenspan’s Red Kuri Soup on p 78 of Around my French Table or here.
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This was my first recipe with Red Kuri! It was so nice not to have to deal with peeling 🙂 Beautifully done, Mardi!
This was a nice lunch warm-up from raking leaves (or was it shoveling snow?).
No wine pairing at the time…but a buttery Chardonnay would go beautifully.
Yes, size is an important factor for us as well. Too often things are sold for large families and we stress trying to use whatever it is up before it spoils. I’ve learned to appreciate anything which comes in smaller portions.
The soup is such a lovely shade of autumn yellow!
I enjoyed this soup too. I particularly like the French name for this squash, so descriptive, and perfectly accurate. I just wish it were easier for me to find. You are lucky that it often comes in your farm box.
Love all the different names for this squash! This is one ingredient I didn’t have to go hunting for – it comes into our food co-op regularly. You got a beautiful colour on this one, Mardi.
Your soup looks lovely. Glad that you have ready access to red kuri squash.
We can get slices of larger squashes at the supermarket, which helps with portion control. Yesterday we browsed around the nearest Whole Foods to see if there were any to take home for making the ‘real’ soup – no luck there! (Yes, that is a tourist attraction for us island folk 😛 ).
Ah, looking at these bowls of soup on this very cold morning is making me feel a little warmer already 🙂
Your soup looks lovely and quite inviting in this cold weather. I hope I can locate the red kuri sometimes and try this recipe again, but I used butternut instead.
Mardi, so many names for such a lovely squash variety – considering its shape, onion squash is a rather fitting name for it. Your red kuri soup looks velvety and absolutely perfect – so nice that you could easily find this squash and make such a wonderful, comforting soup with it!
Have a nice Sunday,
Andrea
Beautiful soup, Mardi, and I love the blue striped background! I don’t know why, but that kind of background evokes a warm day for me. Of course, the contrast between the blue and orange is lovely. Anyway, glad you all liked it!
I’ve heard of Hubbard squash and Red Kuri is new to me. I wonder if they changed the name to market it differently? Glad you enjoyed it.
I envy those of you who frequently can find Red Kuri in their markets. This was my first introduction to it and I enjoyed it as much as the two of you. Creamy and delicious is right.