Soup of the Week: Spicy Butternut & Vegetable ‘Stoup’ and Giving Things Another Try
Several years ago, my Mom had a fairly extended period of kitchen experimentation.
In those pre-Pinterest days, Mom would sit with her impressive cookbook collection and look for new meals to prepare for our family. She liked to find new and different ways to prepare fairly standard ingredients. My Mom is a great cook. Most of her efforts were wildly successful. Occasionally, though, there would be one that was…less so.
There is one recipe in particular that always comes up in conversation: the pear clafoutis.
Mom liked to set an elegant table and the night in question was no exception. I’m sure the meal was wonderful, but I couldn’t tell you what we had. Perhaps it was because I was nervous about my now-Husband having dinner with my family for the first time. Perhaps it was because The Clafoutis Incident eclipsed all.
Dinner was finished, things were going well, and it was time for dessert. Mom proudly presented the pear clafoutis. That poor dessert didn’t have a chance in hell from the minute we all heard the name. How do you not make fun of clafoutis? But we tried it, of course.
And it was…odd.
I’m going to go with the theory that Mom just didn’t get some part of the process exactly right because this dessert was…well, it was just odd. We didn’t know what to make of it, but we all gave it a try. Something about it, though, just didn’t quite work.
Mom was bustling between the kitchen and the dining room clearing dishes, serving clafoutis, bringing out coffee, and she wanted to know how we liked it.
“Great.” (This said in the way you know means anything but great.)
“Different.”
“Interesting. Very French.”
But none of us could actually eat the stuff. None that is, save one. The now-Fab Hub.
Clearly he was of higher culinary intellect than the rest of us because he enthusiastically assured my Mom and everyone else at the table that it was wonderful. Best dessert he’d ever had.
He lied.
He was completely full of crap. He had to be. I am certain that he was full of it because my Husband does not like fruit. With very few exceptions, he doesn’t touch the stuff. He would no sooner eat a pear – clafoutis or otherwise – than wear a pair of stilettos to work.
Perhaps he was trying to impress my Mother. (I swear she likes him better than she likes me and it’s probably all because of that damn dessert.) Perhaps he was having a moment in which he decided to give pears another try and expand his horizons. Who knows? I’m skeptical.
But the truth is that you never do know when you might like something that you were certain you couldn’t stand. That was the case with me and this Spicy Butternut and Vegetable ‘Stoup’ my Mom saw on Rachel Ray’s daytime show.
Every so often Mom will tell me about a recipe and I will always at least check it out. This sounded kind of good in theory – butternut squash was involved. But as I read over the ingredients, I grew wary. Celery? Hate the stuff. But I could skip it. Diced tomatoes. OK, but with butternut squash? I’m not convinced. Curry. Never had anything with curry that I enjoyed. What would be the point?
But the rest of the ingredients continued to intrigue me…apples, mango chutney, onion, chili powder, cinnamon, nutmeg…it was like the perfect storm of sweet and savory and spicy all in one pot. I already had a butternut squash sitting on the counter anyway, so why not?
I ended up making it for the three of us and Mom at her house. She found the recipe so I wanted to make sure she got to enjoy it – or suffer, if that turned out to be the result. This was a great fine. It’s everything Rachel promises in the clip on her site – it’s thicker than soup, thinner than stew, and served over hot basmati rice, it’s a delicious and hearty meal.
Everyone liked it – Mom, Kidzilla, the Hub, and me. Even with the dubious ingredient list, it turned out perfectly. This ‘stoup’ has a little something for everyone – it’s sweet, it’s savory, it’s a little spicy but not so much that your kids won’t eat it. With the addition of some fresh lime juice and cilantro or parsley on top, it also feels nice and fresh.
This tastes great with a good bold beer. A tall glass of cold milk works equally well, but different of course. And for leftovers? Even better the second time around, as many things are. I’ve been experimenting with celery and curry again since we had this. Turns out neither one is really all that bad.
As for the pear clafoutis, Mom never did make a second attempt. I kind of wonder if we shouldn’t give that one another shot, just to be fair. And it may be fun to see the Hub put his money where his mouth is to determine the truth about his professed love of pear clafoutis.
Rachel Ray’s Spicy Butternut and Vegetable ‘Stoup’ can be found here on her show’s site, www.RachelRayShow.com. Watch the video, grab the recipe, and enjoy a hearty meal with someone you love.
Enjoy!
Love this? Share the love and tell someone!
13 Comments
Comments are closed.
I love recipes that come with family stories like this – that is where most recipes come from after all.
It sounds delicious too!
I do too, Dannii. I think the stories are the best part. My favorite cookbooks are the ones that include stories like that.
This was good and really pretty healthy overall – tons of veggies.
Why must “meeting the family” involve food?! lol Bad enough first dates are usually dinner dates lol. Good for your husband for convincing your Mom he liked her pear clafoutis:) Haven’t we all had those recipes that just don’t look like it does on tv or in the magazine, or plain old sucks. I tried preparing knochi alla romana once in the days before cooking shows and the internet. Good old Fannie Farmer. Thank goodness it was only my Dad and myself eating it. Memory tells me he was a good sport about it:)
I admire your sense of adventure Lisa. That stoup does sound a little “odd”. Glad it turned out to be a success! Good lesson in perseverence. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?
Maybe because if all else fails, you can always talk about the food?
I have had many turn out not quite right – who doesn’t? But my poor Mom is still getting grief for this one fifteen years later.
This did sound odd, but I’m glad we gave it a try because it turned out quite well and I would definitely make it again!
Clafoutis ARE weird–not a cake, not a pancake..something in the middle somewhere. I hate chutney, so I don’t think I could do this soup–weird, because I like almost all things Indian except chutney?
That’s exactly it – clafoutis is so very…vague.
I don’t normally like chutney – another turnoff for me initially, but I bought the one Rachel recommended and I actually liked it. Goes very nicely with some cream cheese and whole wheat pita bread! And it really does just kind of blend into the soup or stew or whatever. It works. Just enough heat to make it interesting, but not so much that Kidzilla would complain.
I think the most I’ve ever seen of FabHub was the back of his head on one of your hikes. At least I assume that was him and not some stranger. But I’m using my imagination to go from there to picturing him in stilletos, sampling fruit. This cracks me up.
I read about clafoutis in The Joy of Cooking years ago, but I never ventured further into clafouti territory.
The bald man in the hike photo was indeed my Husband, not a random dude on the trail.
I hadn’t actually gotten as far as a mental image of my Husband in stilettos politely enjoying his pear clafoutis. Thanks for that! 😀
I want to try pear clafoutis. The soup certainly contains a variety of ingredients. I am a huge lover of butternut squash and I have some in my fridge right now as well as mango. (What are the chances of that?) Maybe I’ll try it this weekend. Anyway, I loved your story, and I love your mom and clafoutis sure is a funny word. Let me know if Fab-Hub will even try it second time around.
You have butternut squash and mango in your fridge right now? It’s meant to be! Give it a try. Tell me how you like it if you do.
I am certain that if presented with the opportunity to try clafoutis again, the Hub would pass. I still say he faked it that first time.
[…] here’s a fascinating word from Lisa‘s fabulous post this week. Clafoutis??? Read about […]
Val was telling me about this soup recipe and WOW it looks amazing! Butternut squash and curry is one of my favorite combinations of all time. I love the clafoutis story. I think Hubby put on that show to get on YOUR good side, which obviously worked. I clicked your link to wiki and it honestly looks like the weirdest dessert ever. I would definitely not like it! That stoup however…
OK, don’t laugh, but when I read this, I did a little dance in my chair and read the comment to my Husband. You and Val were talking about something on my blog? That is AWESOME!
The clafoutis story is one of our best, I think. And clafoutis is just plain weird. In Mom’s defense, I don’t know that anyone can make it normal. I sort of want to try it, but…not really.
The stoup was terrific. Every thing in it I thought I would hate was absolutely perfect and I’m glad I didn’t skip. I wasn’t sure the heat would work for Zilla, but she loved it – ate leftovers happily more than once. It stays in the rotation. I wanted something a bit different that wasn’t just one more creamy root vegetable thing. I love those, but I wanted variety.