Well we survived midterms [Ed. note: Anyone get the license plate of that truck that hit us?] and now, more importantly, it's two weeks until Thanksgiving!

It is never too soon to plan the meal. Right now I have a rough menu outline, but so far the only certainty is that this soup will start the evening off, either in a bowl or as soup shooters (shot glass).

Have made a bazillion different kinds of butternut squash soup over the years, but this is "The One." Velvety, flavorful, filling, but not heavy. You'll swear there's cream in there. There isn't. You can even make this dairy-free/vegan by omitting the butter and substituting olive oil. Full disclosure, I tend to tinker with recipes to tailor it to my or the BF's taste, but this recipe, didn't change a thing [Ed. note: wut].

The soup works well on its own, but if you want to kick the flavor up a notch I suggest adding the red curry croutons. (Butternut squash and red curry are a match made in heaven.) Another handy tip, I find the hand-immersion blender very convenient, but if you want a truly smooth, velvet consistency, break out the big guns, your "serious" blender, and mix like you mean it.

PS: Don't want to give away any secrets, but someone's birthday is coming up [Ed. note: wut]. Last year I didn't mess around and broke out Batman and the Joker for a positively killer caramel apple cake (www.moveablefeast.me/blog/caramel-apple-cake).

PPS: Marlowe is very happy if you voted!

Adapted from: Corky, Lori, Dana and Tracy Pollan, The Pollan Family Table (soup) and Woks of Life (croutons)
Number of servings: makes about 2 quarts (4-6)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup finely chopped yellow onion
• ½ cup peeled and chopped carrots
• ​2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
  
• 7 cups peeled, seeded, and diced butternut squash, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 2 pinches ground nutmeg
• Kosher salt

Optional Topping

• 2 tablespoons raw or roasted shelled pumpkin seeds (pepitas) I like roasted, salted.

Curry Butter Croutons

• ½  loaf crusty bread, such as sourdough
• 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature [Ed. note: ROOM TEMPERATURE]
• ½-1  tablespoon red curry paste (depends on your spice level)
• ½  tablespoon honey

Directions

1. In a large stockpot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add onion and carrots and sauté until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and stir for 30 seconds. Add the butternut squash and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.
2. Pour in vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft, 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Remove the stockpot from the heat and allow soup to cool until no longer steaming. Working in batches, ladle the soup into a blender (place a towel on top when blending to avoid hot splashes) or food processor and blend on high until smooth. Pour pureed soup into a clean pot. (As an alternative you can use a handheld immersion blender and blend soup in the pot.)
4. Return soup to the heat and add nutmeg, 2 teaspoons of kosher salt, and black pepper to taste. Stir to blend well and simmer until hot.
5. Ladle soup into individual bowls and top each serving with 1 teaspoon of pumpkin seeds and croutons (if using). 

Curry Butter Croutons

1. Preheat oven to 425 °F.
2. Cut bread into thick slices. Combine the softened butter, red curry paste, and honey in a small bowl, and mix until thoroughly combined.
3. Spread the toast slices with butter and bake until light golden brown, flipping slices once halfway through to ensure both sides are evenly toasted.
4. Cut into croutons, and serve over the soup. 

We're getting deeper and deeper into October (don't know about you, but did this past week feel like a month or what?), which doesn't just bring us closer to my favorite holiday, Halloween, but all the signs are pointing to another very busy Thanksgiving-to-Christmas season. Meaning, with all of the impending insanity, it's always a good idea to have a few "make-ahead meals" on hand to save time on the off nights. Off nights that are better spent curled up with the BF watching a favorite show like Better Call Saul, or the World Series where his team the San Francisc—oh. Sorry. [Ed. note: Twist the knife, why don't you.]

This Moroccan stew is delicous the night it's made, and reheats well for lunches or make-ahead dinners, without losing any of its vibrant cumin, cinnamon and saffron flavors. Colorful and brothy, light and healthy, it's filling without being heavy. 

It's also vegetarian, but can easily be made vegan by replacing butter with olive oil and skipping the yogurt (see note).

Changes made to the original Smitten Kitchen recipe: substituted yams for the plain potatoes (I recommend the dark red Garnet yam variety), and left out the preserved lemon. 
​
The BF loves it over couscous, but I love it on its own. My dinner guests love all the toppings. A supremely versatile dish you can whip out while you prepare for the costumed kids soon to run amok. Amok! Amok! Amok!

Adapted from: Smitten Kitchen
Number of servings: 6-8

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, small dice
• 4 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, large dice
• ¾ pound Garnet yam, peeled, large dice
• 2-3 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth (I like it brothy)
• 2 cups cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juices
• 2 pinches saffron threads (don't skip this!)
• 1 cup brined pitted green olives (recommend Cerignola)

Optional Sides & Toppings

• Steamed couscous or quinoa, for serving
• Fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped, for garnish
• Toasted slivered almonds, for garnish
• Plain yogurt, for garnish
• Hot sauce of your choice, for serving

Directions

1. Heat (medium heat) butter and olive oil in a 3-4 quart Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. When oil shimmers, add onion, garlic, cumin, and cinnamon. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until spices are aromatic and onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add squash and yams. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, stir to coat, and cook until just tender, about 3 minutes.
3. Add broth, chickpeas, tomatoes and their juices, and saffron. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until squash is fork tender, about 10-15 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and stir in olives. Serve alone or over couscous, quinoa or rice. Garnish with cilantro, almonds, and yogurt if desired.

NOTE: To veganize this, replace the butter with additional olive oil, use vegetable broth and skip the yogurt.

PS: Sweet tooth? Did you miss a year ago when I whipped out the caramel apple cheesecake that destroyed the BF? [Ed. note: And no, she's not kidding.]​ (www.moveablefeast.me/blog/caramel-apple-cheesecake)

PPS:  Amok! Amok! Amok!

Latkes are not just for Hannukah.

Everyone has their own Thanksgiving traditions. Growing up in our family, the turkey was not the star of the show. We were all about appetizers. Once, I asked Mamala how this all started and she couldn't remember, but at some point two appetizers turned into 20 and it took on a life of its own. We used to stay up all night before Thanksgiving and make: chopped liver, herring in sour cream, herring in tomatoes, herring in vinegar, clam poppers, rumaki, stuffed mushrooms, deviled eggs, vegetable trays, three kinds of rye bread, Japanese pickled radish, olives, cornichons, stuffed celery, liptauer (an Austrian favorite), Boston brown bread, and a pistachio pudding-green jello-cottage cheese-fruit cocktail-mayo-7-UP mold (it was the '70s, believe it was called Watergate Salad). Of course, little-girl me disliked all the appetizers we made, except black olives. Thank goodness I was allowed to stick them on my fingers.

So much time. energy and stomach space was spent on appetizers that we rarely ate our turkey and sides on Thanksgiving. If we did, it was at 10:00pm or the next day.

We've had many memorable Thanksgivings. My brother Mike had an epic Thanksgiving-Hannukah reunion in 2004. My Chicago family has hosted many extraordinary Thanksgiving reunions. We also had a beautiful yet bittersweet Thanksgiving with family and friends two weeks before my Mamala passed away in 2011.

There is always that one Thanksgiving that my family always laughs at: 1979. My father passed away that September and it was the first holiday without him. I had recently started college and my older brother Mike, a sophomore at Oregon State, thought it would be a nice idea to invite a married foreign-exchange couple from Korea to a traditional American Thanksgiving.

Mamala and I decided that we would forgo the appetizers and focus on the traditional turkey dinner. We worked feverishly all week cleaning the house, shopping, cooking, and decorating. Thanksgiving morning I put a 25-pound turkey in the oven and got to work on the rest of the feast. Did I mention we had a dog (part wolf, unbeknownest to us at the time), at the time. His name was Blitz. 

[Ed. Note: Good lord I do not like where this is going.]

Mike arrived with the Korean couple around noon, and they arrived in the most gorgeous traditional Korean attire, a hanbok en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanbok. They looked spectacular, were polite and gracious beyond words, just downright lovely people. We spoke no Korean and they spoke no English, but we managed just fine.

Our holiday table was beautifully set with my Mamala's customary Thanksgiving cornucopia, complete with seasonal fruit, plus pilgrim and Native-American candles that she bought 16 years prior when my younger sister Julie was born.

The turkey was baking away. Intoxicating aroma. I might have even cut a little piece of crispy skin off the tail end and snacked on it. [Ed. Note: I'ma tell.] The kitchen and dining room were closed off. Guests were in the living room.

4:00pm, countdown to dinner. The turkey needs to rest for 20 minutes before carving, so that 25-pound bird was carefully placed on the counter, covered with foil, and I finally joined everyone else in the living room.

Suddenly, THUNK. Growling. Snarling. Chomping.

[Ed. Note: The horror. Slowly she turned, inch by inch, step by...]

My heart dropped. I raced into the kitchen with Mamala close behind. There was Blitz with the turkey on the floor, devouring a leg and starting on the precious white meat. He hissed, growled, and bared teeth as I tried to reach for the bird. I grabbed a broom handle and tried to grab what was left of the turkey. His jaw dripped with coveted turkey juices. It was a scene out of Cujo.

[Ed. Note: Getting Stephen King's agent on the phone.]

By the time I could grab the turkey, it was mostly carcass with a little meat dangling on bone. What was once a meal for eight was soup stock. Mamala and I stared at the carcass, a beautiful turkey five minutes ago. We stared at the dog, who was beaming. Once our shock subsided we had no idea what to serve for dinner.

Meanwhile in the living room...Mike has said he never forgot the look on our guests' faces as they heard these psychotic masticating sounds emanating from the adjacent room. Like the proper Midwesterner my Mamala was raised to be, we of course never said a word to them about what transpired in the kitchen, and pretended like nothing happened.

Long story short, we ended up having all vegetarian side dishes for Thanksgiving that year. The Korean couple could not have been more gracious. They enjoyed the meal and we all had a blast. It was an unforgettable holiday and brings a smile to my face every time I think of it.

This Thanksgiving, consider making latkes for your vegetarian guests so they will not have to sustain their hunger on side dishes alone.

Adapted from: Food and Wine, November 2012
Number of servings: 4 dozen mini latkes

Ingredients

• One 1-pound butternut squash neck, peeled and coarsely shredded in a food processor or a large hole grater
• 1 ½ pounds russet potatoes, peeled and coarsely shredded in a food processor or a large hole grater
• ½ cup cornstarch
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup shredded onion
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• Cayenne pepper (I use a good 2 pinches)
• Peanut or vegetable oil, for frying
• Sour cream, hot pepper jelly, and chives, for garnish

Directions

1. Place the shredded potatoes in a dish towel or cheesecloth and squeeze all the water out.
2. In a bowl, combine the shredded squash and potatoes with the cornstarch, eggs and onion. Season with salt and cayenne.
3. In a large non-stick skillet, heat ⅛ inch of oil until shimmering. Add 2-tablespoon-size mounds of the mixture to the skillet, press down with back of spoon, and cook over moderate heat, turning once, until golden and cooked through (4-5 minutes).
4. Drain on paper towels and transfer to wire rack and repeat, adding more oil to the skillet as needed and wiping out the pan occasionally. Always place latkes on rack not a flat plate or they will get soggy.
5. Top latkes with sour cream, hot pepper jelly and chives. Serve hot.
6. NOTE: Latkes can be kept warm in oven for an hour or more. Cooked, they keep well in the fridge for two days, or well wrapped in the freezer for up to two weeks. Reheat in a single layer on a cookie sheet in a 400 °F oven until they're crisp again.