Leni Gross Young, from Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, has been sautee-ing apples, carrots and curry together for this Senegalese Soup each fall for at least ten years of Waring School Grandparents’ Day Luncheons.  Senegalese Soup has been served al fresco to grandparents, awkwardly squirming grandchildren beside them, under azure September skies; and it’s been a singular moment of warm comfort for grandparents through a couple of Grandparent Day Nor-Easters.  It’s always exactly the right thing.

Leni, a trained psycho-therapist, is also a semi-professional chef who has served elaborate tasting dinners, fifteen courses of tiny plates, in the living room of her home.  (That's a photo of her with another famously great dish, her layered Greek Salad.)  She’s also established a Friday Night Supper To Go - delicious “gourmet” dinners for the off-to-ski crowd to tuck into the trunk of their SUV’s.  Leni’s packed fare is intended to be dinner at the ski-house after a long drive, but I happen to know that most of her meals don’t make it over the New Hampshire border.

With two daughters at the Waring School, Leni began putting on her apron for Grandparents Day years ago, and thus made Senegalese Soup famous.  This soup is so beloved, so requested, so remembered, that I know least two grandparents return each year (My daughters attend the Waring School, so I can attest first hand) for the soup.

The soup is a classic version of being far more than the sum of its parts.  Green apples, carrots, onion, and raisins soften together in a small bit of butter.  Then  curry powder and flour are fluffed in, and cooked a bit.  Chicken broth and a dollop of salsa are added, and the whole thing simmers for an hour.  Blend it, add a little cream, and expect to be transported to a foreign continent, one familiar with curry.

 

 

The Senegalese part seems lost:  is it the green apples? the raisins?  the curry?  Leni confesses she found the recipe years ago on Epicurious, who gives the soup’s origins as the “21” Club in Manhattan.  One online site believed there was nothing Senegalese at all about the soup, that someone at the “21” Club got “Senegalese” mixed up with “Singhalese,” where Mulligatawny Soup, another apple and curry blend, originates.

East India, New York City or Beverly Farms, Leni’s Senegalese Soup appeals to so many people it should be served in the United Nations cafeteria every day.  Any culture would be delighted to claim it as their tradition.

Senegalese Soup

Adapted by Leni Gross Young from Epicurious.com’s Club 21 version in Gourmet Mag Nov. 1995 issue

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon grated ginger (I freeze a whole bulb, and grate it frozen, skin and all)

5-6 garlic cloves, chopped or pressed

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped

2 California carrots chopped

1 large sweet onion, chopped

1/4 cup raisins

3 tablespoons mixed curry powders

1-2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (preferably unbleached)

8 cups homemade chicken broth made with whole chicken, carrots, celery and onions + no MSG bouillion cubes – reserve veggies and add when pureeing, reserve chicken and shred for garnish

2 tablespoons salsa

1/2 cup heavy cream

½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Major Grey’s chutney to garnish

Instructions:

In a heavy kettle heat butter over moderate heat until foam subsides and lightly brown garlic and ginger.

Add apples, carrots, onion, raisins, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, 10 to 12 minutes. Add curry powder and cinnamon and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add flour and cook stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in broth and salsa and simmer, covered, 1 hour and 20 minutes. Stir in cream and salt to taste and simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes.

When cool enough, in a food processor or blender, or using an immersion blender (preferable!) purée in batches until smooth, adding reserved vegetables from homemade broth.

Garnish each serving with about 1/2 teaspoon chutney, shredded chicken and cilantro