My coworker Karla came into work last week excited about a butternut squash soup she had concocted from a little bit of this and that. The spice combination she chose—aji amarillo paste (she’s Peruvian), smoked paprika and saffron—already inhabited my pantry and wouldn’t escape my brain until I gave it a try.

Some butternut squash soups lean toward sweet. Others rely on cream for richness. This one has smokey, spicy undertones that know their place and let the starlet squash stand out. The Parmesan and splash of milk provide ample fatty pleasure. 

Karla’s Butternut Squash Soup
1 medium butternut squash
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup diced onion
2 teaspoons aji amarillo paste
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Generous pinch saffron
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/3 cup grated Parmesan, plus 8 Parmesan curls

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°. Trim ends off squash and split lengthwise.  Remove seeds and stringy pulp with a spoon. Coat squash with 1 tablespoon olive oil, and place on a baking sheet, flesh side down. Bake squash for 40 to 45 minutes, until tender. Remove squash from oven, and cool slightly. Peel squash, and cut into large cubes. 

Heat remaining olive oil and butter in a medium pot. Add onion, aji amarillo paste, smoked paprika, and saffron to the pot. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until onion is soft and translucent. Add garlic, and cook until fragrant—about 1 minute. Transfer squash, stock, milk, and salt to the pot. Bring soup to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. 

Remove soup from the burner, and puree with an immersion blender (or cool soup slightly, and puree in a blender). Return to heat and stir in grated Parmesan. Taste, and adjust seasoning as necessary. Ladle soup  into bowls and top with a sprinkle of smoked paprika and a few parmesan curls. 

Serves 4 to 5

On our way back home from my niece Camille’s baptism in Georgia, William and I stopped at a farm stand and picked up a basket of tomatoes, among other late-summer bounty. Since we haven’t seen a stellar Miami tomato in months, I decided to embrace their tomato-ness with a batch of our favorite gazpacho. 

And I’m not talking about a souped-up version with loads of veggie diversity. Just tomatoes and a few choice ingredients: olive oil, garlic, smoked paprika, red wine vinegar and salt. This recipe couldn’t be simpler.

On the side, I served thick slices of no-knead bread in a hurry topped with lemony herbed ricotta (ricotta, basil, oregano, rosemary, a squeeze of lemon and salt) and sea salt. 

Simple Gazpacho
5 medium tomatoes, quartered and seeded
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (or more to taste)

Instructions
Combine ingredients in a blender, and puree. Chill for at least 1 hour, and serve. 

Serves 2 to 3

Plated empanadas with chopped salad

The New York Times ran an article on Chilean empanadas about a month ago, and the recipe has been nagging my subconscious stomach since. Living in Miami, empanadas are hardly novel. But making them at home  is.  

These tasty little pies aren’t weeknight friendly, but I stretched the preparation over two nights. I prepared the meat filling and pastry dough on Wednesday night, and assembled and baked the pies on Thursday. I used a doctored and doubled version of the Times filling, substituting olive oil for lard and green olives for black. 

Although we could have stopped after two, my dinner guests, Laura and Rick, and I ate three empanadas each, plus a mound of chopped salad. The meat was perfectly seasoned, and bits of egg, olive and raisin made each bite taste a little different. I can’t wait to make these again for William, for more guests, for a party, for me.  

Trust me. Skip the Latin corner cafe and make these at home. You control the quality of the ingredients and the leftovers—if you have any. 

Chilean Beef Empanadas

Beef Filling 
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 pound ground chuck
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
12 green, pimento-stuffed olives, sliced in half
Handful of raisins 
2 hard boiled eggs, cut into 12 thin slices

Empanada Pastry (epicurious.com)
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 stick, cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large egg
1/3 cup ice water
1 tablespoon white vinegar 
Egg wash (Beat 1 egg + a splash of water) 

Instructions
Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium high. Add onion and cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Add beef to the pan, breaking it into small pieces with a spoon. Cook beef until well browned. Stir in smoked paprika, cumin, and salt and pepper to taste. Transfer meat to a bowl and set aside (this can be made one day in advance).

For the dough, combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and blend with fingertips or a pastry blender. Work the dough until the flour and butter form pea-sized clumps. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, water, and vinegar. Pour liquid  ingredients into the flour mixture and stir until incorporated. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead 2 to 3 times. Flatten dough into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (this can be made one day in advance).

Preheat oven to 400°. To assemble the empanadas, divide dough into 12 pieces. One at a time, roll a piece of dough into a ball. On a floured surface, flatten the dough into a disk with a rolling pin. Roll until pastry is 1/8-inch thick and about 5 inches in diameter.

Fill the dough with 2 tablespoons beef, 2 olive halves, 4 to 5 raisins, and 1 slice boiled egg. Brush egg wash along half of the pastry’s border. Fold dough over the filling to enclose. Crimp edges with a fork, and set on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. 

Brush the tops of the empanadas with egg wash, place them in the oven, and bake for 25 minutes, until golden. 

Makes 12 empanadas