Crema de Calabaza con Quesillo

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 4-quart pot or clay cazuela
• •High-powered blender
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting the chile
• •Ladle

Instructions

1. 1

   Sweat the aromatics

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a heavy 4-quart pot or cazuela over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and smashed garlic. Cook for four to five minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and translucent but has taken no color. You are not caramelizing. You are building a base. The sweetness of this soup comes from the calabaza, not from browned onions. Keep the heat honest and patient.

   Manteca gives the soup a richness that butter and oil cannot match. One tablespoon is all you need, but it does work that no other fat does. La manteca es el sabor.
2. 2

   Simmer the calabaza

   Add the calabaza chunks to the pot and stir them through the softened onion. Pour in the chicken broth. The liquid should just cover the squash. If it doesn't, add a little water. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat until you see a lazy bubble every few seconds. Add the epazote sprig and the salt. Cover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, until the calabaza is completely soft and falling apart when you press it with the back of a spoon. The flesh should be deep orange and yielding.

3. 3

   Toast the chile pasilla

   While the calabaza simmers, heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Lay the dried chile pasilla oaxaqueno flat on the surface and press it gently with a spatula. Toast for about 15 seconds per side, until the skin puffs and the chile releases a deep, smoky, almost fruity aroma. Do not let it blacken. Pull it off the comal immediately, let it cool, then tear it into rough pieces with your fingers. Set aside. This is your garnish and it does the work of tying the whole bowl back to Oaxaca.

   The pasilla oaxaqueno is not the same as the pasilla negro you find in central Mexico. It is a smoked chile, closer in character to a chipotle but with a fruitier, more complex flavor. If you cannot find it, a small piece of chipotle morita, toasted and crumbled, will gesture in the right direction, but it is not the same chile. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado.
4. 4

   Blend until smooth

   Remove and discard the epazote sprig. Working in batches if necessary, transfer the soup to a blender and blend on high until completely smooth. You want the texture of heavy cream: no chunks, no fibers, no graininess. If the soup is too thick, add a splash of broth. If it is too thin, you used too much liquid or your calabaza was watery. Taste for salt now. The soup should taste deeply of squash, savory from the broth, with the faint mineral note of the epazote lingering underneath.

   If you want an absolutely silky texture, pass the blended soup through a fine-mesh strainer back into the pot, pressing on any solids. Most home cooks in Oaxaca skip this step, and so do I. The blender does enough.
5. 5

   Prepare the quesillo

   Pull the quesillo apart into long, thin strings. Do not cut it. Cutting defeats the point. The beauty of quesillo is the pull, the way it stretches and clings. Take a generous handful of strings for each bowl and coil them loosely at the bottom, like a nest. The cheese should sit there waiting for the hot soup to do its work.

6. 6

   Serve hot over the cheese

   Return the blended soup to the pot and bring it back to a full simmer. It needs to be very hot, hot enough to soften the quesillo the moment it makes contact. Ladle the soup directly over the coiled cheese in each bowl. You will see the edges of the quesillo go glossy and start to yield. If using crema mexicana, drizzle a thin line across the surface. Scatter the torn chile pasilla oaxaqueno over the top. Serve immediately. The first spoonful should pull a string of cheese from the bottom of the bowl to your mouth. That pull is the dish. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Calabaza de Castilla has a hard rind and dense, deep-orange flesh. If you cannot find it, butternut squash is the closest substitute available in the United States, but it is sweeter and less complex. Kabocha is another option with better depth. Do not use canned pumpkin puree. That is a different product for a different cuisine.
• •The quesillo must be fresh. Old quesillo dries out and does not stretch. If you are outside Mexico, look for it at a Mexican grocery or a cheese shop that stocks it. Mozzarella fresca will melt and pull in a similar way, but it does not have the slight tang and milky flavor of real quesillo. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Make your own chicken broth. Homemade broth with onion, garlic, and a few chicken backs simmered for two hours will give this soup a body that no box or cube can replicate. The calabaza is mild. It needs a broth that holds its own.
• •The epazote is not optional and it is not interchangeable with cilantro or parsley. Epazote has a resinous, slightly medicinal quality that cuts through the sweetness of the squash and rounds the soup out. One sprig. That is all you need.

Advance Preparation

• •The soup base can be made one day ahead, blended and refrigerated. Reheat to a full simmer before serving. Do not add the quesillo or the chile pasilla until the moment you serve.
• •The chile pasilla oaxaqueno can be toasted and torn up to two hours ahead. It stays fragrant at room temperature. Do not refrigerate it or it goes limp.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 400g)