I’m sitting at my desk, trying to come up with the perfect recipe for the Oorah Spirit before Sukkos. I turn to a colleague sitting nearby. “Butternut squash soup?”
A chorus of “Yum!” tells me that I hit the spot. Warm and autumny, this is the perfect start to a Yom Tov meal in a chilly sukkah.
I inherited this recipe from my father, who does not cook by the book, making it next to impossible to get straight answers on ingredients and amounts from him. Use this as a base and change it up to your taste. You can omit the turkey necks and make it pareve, but they add a delicious richness of flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash
- 2 small onions
- 2 parsnips
- 4 carrots
- For a sweeter flavor, add 1 sweet potato.
- For a more “vegetable soup” flavor, add zucchini.
- 1 white onion
- 2 stalks celery
- 10 oz mushrooms
- Turkey necks
- Salt
- Parsley and/or dill
Cook vegetables for 45 minutes. Cool. Puree. (An immersion blender works beautifully for this.) Add the rest of the ingredients (onion through spices) and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
