My Paris Kitchen: David Lebovitz’s Butternut Squash Bread Soup

Le sigh, the modern cookbook. Filled with aspirational photography, essays, tips and lifestyle inspiration, many modern-day cookbooks transcends the definition of their older, index-like counterparts. No longer cut and dry lists of recipes, cookbooks like My Paris Kitchen: Recipes and Stories unfurl the possibility of an entire lifestyle, this one a delicious waft of modern-day Parisian living. David Lebovitz's guide to cooking the old French classics in a modern way makes us feel like we could belong among the farmer's market-traipsing home cooks on today's Paris streets. This recipe for Butternut Squash Bread Soup is the perfect tell for what you'll find inside this wonderful new book: classic, yet modern; hearty, but fresh. Prepare to be knocked off your feet by Lebovitz's wonderful, edible tour of modern French life - just remember to set the oven timer before getting lost in it's pages. I get a kick out of telling French friends about all the French-style products that one sees in America, ranging from French-cut green beans (when I've asked, no one in France has any idea what "French­ cut" means) to a French-style refrigerator, a behemoth that looks nothing like the modest-size refrigerators you see in France. When I first served this panade at a dinner party, none of my Parisian friends had ever heard of the dish either. In fact, they told me that panade refers to someone who finds himself in a bad situation; they weren't aware of the baked casserole that's served like soup but is hearty enough to be a full meal. This panade is one of the few dishes I've eaten in my life that I've never forgotten. I was baking one night in the kitchen at Chez Panisse and was so busy that I barely had time to enjoy all the won­derful food that I watched the cooks send out to the guests. Seeing my rapt interest, cook Seen Lippert offered me a warm bowl of panade: slices of toasted sourdough bread soaked in flavorful broth with lots of fresh herbs and layers of hearty butternut squash holding everything together. I took one spoonful and had to stop what I was doing and sit down to savor it. (Belated apologies to the customers who had to wait a little longer for their dessert that night.) Seen has since left the restaurant business, which is unfortunate for the diners, but very good for her husband. Yet she was happy to share her recipe for panade, which is one of those dishes that gets better as it sits, and is even better rewarmed the next day. For baking the dish, a 4-quart baking dish is preferred, because the greater the width, the more crusty cheese topping you'll have when the panade is finished. Whatever size baking dish you use, it should have sides that are at least 3 inches high. For the bread, find a sturdy, tangy sourdough loaf that's quite dense. Depending on the size of your dish, you may need a little more or a little less bread, so you might want to have extra bread on hand. (Never a problem in France!) Sturdy rye bread will also work well, if sourdough loaves aren't available. This is one of those dishes where the quality of the chicken stock is very important, so I urge you to use homemade. Although this is called a "soup,” it's more like a very moist casserole. As you serve, ladle additional warm broth over each bowl if you wish.



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