Liquid Gold

Chef Nadia Santini is a minimalist. As patrons of her restaurant, Dal Pescatore in Lombardy, Italy, will attest, she believes the best dishes contain no more than five ingredients.

I made this comforting discovery last fall on a drive across northern Italy. Autumn eating in this region is good, with seasonal menus featuring earthy truffles and porcini, game, cured meats and pumpkin. While the restaurant is renowned for Santini’s mother-in-law’s ethereal tortelli di zucca (pumpkin-stuffed ravioli), it was the pumpkin soup ladled from a porcelain tureen on the sideboard that had me hooked. Nadia’s delicate golden-orange puree tasted simply like itself--an Italian squash somewhere between our butternut or kabocha and more vegetal pumpkins, with an innate sweetness not tarted up with spices or cream.

After lunch, the demure chef brought in a pumpkin from the garden on a platter for us to study. Italians call it zucca Americana, but it’s no jack-o-lantern. This winter squash, with its orange-and-green skin, should be deeply ribbed and rough, with a very dry stem. Nadia explained, “You know it is a good one, that all the water is gone and there are no strings. You cook it with onions and celery from the garden, and brodo [meat broth], and in 20 minutes, the soup is done.” Granted, the brodo itself also has five ingredients. But as in Charles and Ray Eames’ film “Powers of Ten,” where exponentially distant views of a picnic broaden our horizons, each quintet of ingredients enriches our taste perception of this wholesome soup. Nadia Santini adds, “If foods are simple, we can eat and not feel heavy.”

This comes as a great relief. I’ve been making my own easy pumpkin soup for years with sweetly sauteed onions and pumpkin, a little white wine, bay leaves, a chunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano rind or pancetta. I often roast pumpkins from the farmers’ market and use the convenient frozen puree for the soup, then serve it with any or all of five condiments: flavorful olive oil, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, fresh sage, toasted bread crumbs, coarse sea salt. I hadn’t realized the ability to count them on one hand was part of a higher concept.

In fact, I’ve sometimes been a little self-conscious about my version’s simple nature when inviting friends over for an autumn lunch of pumpkin soup and prosciutto, arugula and mascarpone sandwiches--even better with fresh figs--and roasted late-season plums with crisp cornmeal cookies for dessert. But since my visit with Nadia Santini, I no longer fret. I believe in the power of five.

Pumpkin Soup

Serves 6-8

3 pounds dense pumpkin, or a mix of kabocha or butternut squash and pumpkin

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1-1/2 cups onion, chopped

3/4 cup celery, chopped with leaves

1 quart homemade beef broth (see below)

Sea salt

White pepper, ground Toppings

Extra-virgin olive oil

Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated

Fresh sage, chopped

Toasted fresh bread crumbs

Coarse sea salt

Peel and seed pumpkin and cut into 2-inch chunks. In a large, deep pot over medium heat, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil, add onions and celery and saute until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Add pumpkin chunks, season with salt and saute 5 minutes more, stirring frequently. Add 2 cups of broth and simmer until broth is almost absorbed, about 10 minutes. Add 2 more cups of broth and cook soup partly covered until pumpkin is very tender, 10-15 minutes. Puree or pass the soup through a food mill. Add water if soup is too thick. Add salt and white pepper to taste. Heat soup and serve with a healthy drizzle of flavorful olive oil, a sprinkling of cheese, sage, toasted bread crumbs and a little coarse salt.

Broth

3 pounds meaty soup bones

1 carrot, peeled

1 rib celery with leaves

1 ripe Roma tomato

1 onion, unpeeled

1-2 teaspoons salt

Place broth ingredients except for salt in a deep pot. Pour water into pot to cover meat and vegetables. Over medium heat, bring broth almost to a boil, skimming off foam as it rises. Reduce heat to low and simmer broth partly covered 2-3 hours. Strain broth, discard solids and add salt to taste. Cool broth uncovered and refrigerate to allow fat to congeal. Discard fat before using broth. Makes 6 cups.

Food stylist: Christine Masterson