Squash Blossom Cream Soup Recipe by Rocio Alanis
The small Mexican town of Malinalco won by Rocío's decision to leave the hustle and bustle of Mexico City's business life frenzy and set up her own restaurant and bakery in the town center, with the love of her life, Guillermo. Clavo y Canela (Clove and Cinnamon) became a town staple today, for both tourists and locals who flock to its cozy garden for some enriching discussions and Rocío's mouthwatering cooking.
At the same time, Rocío Alanís has been one of the most respected Mexican publicists, marketers and designers, and in spite of her life changing decision to move away from the big city and plunge into a whole new industry, she still supports some special projects, dear to her heart. Born into the family of 8 children as an eldest daughter, she started showing early signs of entrepreneurship by selling her paintings and drawings to friends and family since she was 15 and sharing the earnings with her younger sisters. Rocío has set up several business ventures along the way since the 80s and early 90s, as one of the partners as well as on her own, when female entrepreneurship in Mexico wasn't a common thing. When asked about the possible causes and explanation for that unlikely step during times when Mexico wasn't open for women in business leadership, Rocío contributed it to an early exposure to her parents' work ethic as they fed, educated and prepared 8 children for life, but also her own early strides for independence and a firm decision to put herself through the university, which she did on her own dime, posing an example for her younger sisters to opt for going for higher education and careers as well. That same early independence created a mindset in her, that considered a self-reliant business model a as a natural next step in her career, no matter what the society thought or expected of a young woman at the time.
Rocío's love of cooking formed in her early age, when she liked spending hours in the kitchen helping her nana Maria Luisa cut vegetables or arranging plates. When Rocío was 4 years old, her nana gave her a gift - a minuscule molcajete (a traditional Mexican mortar with a pestle made of volcanic stone), and every day when she came back from kindergarten, her nana had a small grilled chile with some grained salt waiting in the molcajetito, for Rocío to grind for her dad's salsa. Many years later, nana Maria Luisa gave Rocío her first real molcajete for her wedding, which is still in her kitchen today, in spite of numerous moves across cities and states.
With an imposing stature (she's a quite tall lady) and the sweetest, warmest smile, Rocío Alanís is a nurturing, caring friend, who cured innumerous heartaches and pains of her closed ones with attentive listening, smart advice and loads of astonishing, tasty snacks.
Rocío has also been my second mom, and this article is a small token of a big affection I have for her.
Squash Blossom Cream Soup
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 3 bunches of squash blossom
- ½ mid-sized onion
- 100 g (3.5 oz) butter
- 1 ½ cup of chicken or vegetable broth
- 2 ½ cups of milk
- 180 g (6 oz) cream cheese
- 1 cup of acid cream
- salt & pepper
- 1 pasilla chili, cut into stripes, for decoration
Procedure:
Wash the squash blossom gently and remove the excess water with a paper towel. Remove the pistil from inside the flower and discard it, as well as the stem and the receptacle. If the stem and receptacle of your flowers appear to have tiny, innocent looking thorns, I still advise you to wear gloves for this step, as those tiny thorns are mean, and will cause a burning feeling in your hands for days (I learned that the hard way).
Chop up the onion in stripes (they don't have to look pretty - spoiler alert: it will all end up in a blender anyway).
Place half of the prepared butter in a hot skillet with the onion stripes. When the onion becomes transparent, add the dried squash blossom petals and cook for about 10 minutes on low heat. Leave to cool off slightly.
Place the mass in a blender, together with the chicken (or vegetable) broth, the cream cheese and half of the milk, and blend together until smooth. Do not add the acid cream yet.
In a saucepan, melt the rest of the butter, add the blended mix and the rest of the milk and cook on low heat until it starts to boil. Season with salt and pepper, add cream and immediately remove from the heat.
Cut the pasilla chili in stripes and remove the seed. Fry lightly and quickly in a pan for a few seconds until you see the chili turning red-brown and remove. Use them to adorn the bowls of soup.
Featured bowls are our favorite rugged orange and gray glazed clay bowls from Mexico 1492 that can be found here.
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