La Crema

This is my adaptation of a Cointa classic, la Crema. She typically mixed some zucchini, auyama (pumpkin, more like squash), leeks, scallions, garlic, and salt, boiled it for a while, and then blended it into a puree. I did the same but used a butternut squash in place of the auyama (close enough) and spiced it up with some berbere. Don't like to overuse it, but until recently I had not been in possession of my entire spice collection and berbere adds some really good flavor to a wide variety of things. The highlight was using the immersion blender for the first time (gift from Carolyn) and blending the soup right in the pot. Such a handy little device, you can just rinse it under the faucet and bam it's clean! Much simpler than a traditional blender, thanks Carolyn! I have also used it twice already for smoothies. This soup was a little too hot for yesterday, but I ate a bunch of it chilled today and it was fantastic. This guy also ranks pretty high up there on the long-term satisfaction scale.